What Still Remains
by WhiteLight12
Summary: Twenty years have passed since the unexpected infection of the Cordyceps Virus took over what was left of humanity. Enid Johnson, a 13 year old girl joins Joel and Ellie on their journey across the US in hopes to get the cure.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

Ever since my friend Jesse was killed by the Quarantine Zone soldiers, I have been hidden away from the in order to keep out of trouble. The two of us were just having fun while we still could. Running around the abandoned store like a couple of wolves. Couldn't have asked for a better time to spend with him. He had filled the hole that has been punched through my gut after I had been isolated from my childhood friend, Ellie. We were really close. We played together whenever we could as kids and even get into trouble every now and then. Everything was okay at this time. We didn't have to worry about the infected and the many perils that were on the other side of the cracked wall that was supposed to keep us protected. However when I was 9 and she was 10, we were sundered for a reason that I don't remember.

But I do recall the time we'd have to deal with being in Sergeant Dickhead's office a bunch. Most times she'd take the heat for me and receive the given punishment afterwards. Having her as my friend was amazing. When I turned 13, that's when I had lost Jesse. But, there was an advantage to that happening. I would be reunited with my old childhood friend that I consider a sister. My name is Harper Johnson, an orphan born into this unforgiving epidemic. This is our journey of hectic survival and the strengthening of our bonds guided by one man whose name is Joel.


	2. Chapter 2 Reunited

The mid afternoon sun was illuminating this old cafe in its orangish yellow light. All I did was gaze out the old, cracked window at the soldiers below me along with Humvee's and random people sitting by walls just talking. I mean, what else was I supposed to do? It was hot in here even under my green and black tank top and jeans. The back of my neck was starting to sweat even though most of my black hair was put up in a ponytail. It hung down on the rest of my free hair and my bangs covered my face. And it was quiet here. I hated it so much.

The reason of me being here is because Marlene, leader of a local group called the Fireflies, said too in avoidance of the soldiers here. And she told me she had to get something but didn't tell me what it was. What could it be? I don't know. I sigh loudly and rub my beaded sweat forehead. No knowing what Marlene had in store for me only made anxious. Not minutes after, I hear the door open. It immediately got my attention and I looked at it.

"I need you to stay here for a little bit. Don't cause any trouble." Marlene said in a majorly as if she was in a rush. _What the fuck…? _ "But Marlene-" someone else said but was cut off. "No more talking. Just stay put. I'll be back soon." Marlene interjected. They sigh in defeat and walk through the door. Marlene then closes the door behind her carefully. My eyes couldn't tear away from who had walked through the door. It was a girl around my age who… looked a lot like my old friend Ellie. No… it can't be. She had the same reddish brownish hair, same freckles, same green eyes, same everything… She gazed back at me and her eyes widened as well.

"Ellie? Ellie, is that really you?" I ask, a smile growing on my face as I stood up from where I was sitting. She walks over to me, not moving her eyes from me at all. "E-Enid? No fucking way…" she said tearfully as she smiled at me. We then lock in a tight, warm embrace. My arms wrapped around her waist while her arms were around my neck. It is her… it really is. My childhood friend has come back to me.

"Holy shit, I never thought I'd see this adorable face of yours again." Ellie giggled pulling back from me. "And I didn't think I'd see your smart ass again." I joke. She laughed at what I said. "After 4 years, you're still the same Harpoon that I know." she smirks, leading me back to that same table that I was just sitting at. We sat across from each other. "Damn, you have no idea how happy to I am to see you right now." I tell her, brushing some of my hair back. "I should say that myself. Never thought I would see you again after…" she stopped, looking away from me. "Hey, don't go back to that time. It's not healthy." I logically tell her. She rubs her nose with her fingers and sniffles. "Sorry, heh. It's hard not to think about, you know?" she said. I gaze at her with sympathy in my blue eyes. I could gather she was still upset about us getting separated a long time ago. It bothered me also.

After a few minutes of awkward silence between us, I got to thinking why we were in the same situation of being hidden away from the soldiers. "Hey, I got to ask, why are you in this shithole too?" I asked her. She gazed up at me and sighed. It looked as if she was hiding something that she didn't want to mention what it was. "You can tell me, Ellie." I assure her. She sighed and stood up from the table. This worried me and I stand up with her. "Ellie, I didn't wait 4 years to see you again just for you to stay quiet about something that I know is bothering you. Just tell me." I quietly scold her, standing next to her without taking my eyes off her. She sighed and started to speak. "Promise you won't freak out if I say?" she said, slightly looking at me. "I can't make any promises but I'll try to." I respond honestly. What she was hiding under her sleeve was I wasn't expecting at all.

She turned and took ahold of her right sleeve and she pulled it up. There was a bite… a bite from an infected. I look up at her with a look of bewilderment and alarm. "You're… You're bitten?" I say, trying my best to not freak out. "Yeah… Sorry you had to find out this way. But it's not what you think. It's three weeks old." she tells me, holding her arm. I had to think a minute to process all this. "So… you're here because of you being bit?" I asked, looking back at her. This was far bigger than I than I thought. "Yeah. She wants me out of this city. You're not bit either are you?" she asked me. I rubbed the back of my neck.

"If I was… I would probably be dead. I wouldn't be here in this situation with you right now." I said, clearing my throat. "Well, you believe me right? About this being 3 weeks old?" she said. I look up and sniffle. Seeing that bite should tell me that she was lying and insincere however I didn't listen to what it was telling me. "Yeah. I believe you Ellie." I say with a smile. At that, we hug once again. "Thank you. Are we friends again?" she asked, pulling back from me. I grinned at what she said to show that wasn't hard to answer. "Yeah. We're friends again." I retort with that same smile that was still on my face. "Oh thank god for that. Thought I'd lose you again there." she said, getting me to chuckle. "So why're you here? If you're not bit, then, why are you in here?" she asked. Figured she'd ask me that. I mean it's only fair that I tell her.

"I got in trouble. Snuck into a grocery store and those damn soldiers caught me. They nearly shot me." I answer. "Wow. That's no surprise. Too bad I wasn't there to bail you out." she said. "Yeah true but, they would know who was there considering I was the only one there." I fibbed. But I made it sound convincing enough. She saw that I was right about that. I couldn't tell her about Jesse. Not yet at least. Before we could say anything else, the sound of the door opening caught our attention.

We grab our knives and flick them open. She had a switchblade and I had a 7 inch pocket knife. I held it tightly in my hand in defense and was ready to attack who was coming through the door. It was Marlene who walked through the door. However, she fell on her hands and knees when the door was open. Her side was bloody and she had a hold of it with her arm. Ellie and I were about to help her but a man with a short beard and mustache and caucasian skin beat us to it. There was a woman also. She had brown hair that was tied into a messy bun with a bandana on the top of her head and she also had caucasian skin. Ellie went into defensive mode and charged at the man with her knife raised. "Get the fuck away from her!" she yelled. Before something could happen, the woman the man was with grabbed her by the wrist. That set me off as well.

"Hey, let her go!" I yell, charging at the woman with my knife wielded hand up. But my wrist was quickly grabbed by the woman with a slightly tight grip. "Let them go." Marlene calmly asked. The woman did so and we pulled back. Looking at Marlene, she was leaning on the old, chipped bar while holding her wound. She wasn't like this before she left. "Recruiting kind of young, aren't you?" the man asked with a Texan accent. "These girls aren't mine." Marlene replied pained. "Shit. What happened?" Ellie wondered, putting her knife away. We walk over to her in worry. "Don't worry, this is fixable. I got us help... " Marlene said, getting Ellie and I to look at the man and woman behind us. One of my brows furrowed in confusion. How're they going to benefit us in any way even after Marlene said her wound could be fixed?

"But I can come with you two." Marlene said, getting me to shake my head. "Well then, Ellie and I are staying." I argue, giving off a confused glance. "Harper. You and Ellie know we won't get another shot at this." Marlene grunted. I was confused at this. We're Ellie and I being smuggled to keep out of trouble? "Wait, we're smuggling them?" the man asked, walking up to us. Ellie and I look from the man, the woman who was with him, and back to Marlene. So Marlene is doing this to keep us safe. Ellie, I understand, but why me? All I did was get into trouble with the soldiers here. "There's a crew of Fireflies that'll meet you at the Capitol Building." Marlene instructed, using hand gestures in the process. "That's not exactly close." the woman stated, getting Ellie and I to look over at her. She wasn't wrong about that. It's outside of the walls as far as I know.

"You're capable." Marlene stated, "You can hand them off, come back, the weapons are yours. Double with what Robert sold me." I cross my bare arms and just kept my mouth shut. Ellie does the same. "Speaking of which, where are they?" the woman asked, trying to make it quick. Marlene answered with that they were back in their camp. This didn't satisfy that woman's needs and she scoffed in disapproval. "We're not smuggling shit until I see them." she said. "You'll follow me. I can get patched up. But the girl's aren't crossing that part of town. I want Joel to watch over them." Marlene instructed. I jerked up at this and we all begin to protest.

"Bullshit! Harper and I aren't going with him!" Ellie protested, holding her hand out. "Hell no, Marlene!" I argued. But Marlene held her hand out to silence all of us. It was quiet again. Ellie and I just looked at each other for a moment. "How do you know them, Marlene?" I asked, wanting to know why she picked them as our guides through this city. "I was close with his brother, Tommy. Said if I was ever in a jam, I could rely on him." Marlene answered, looking up at me. I look away and bite my bottom lip. Was he part of the Fireflies? Sounds like he was.

"Was that before or after he left your little militia group?" the man asked. "He left you too. He was a good man." Marlene answered, correcting him. I looked down for a moment with my lips pressed together so that they were a thin white line. I didn't know what to make of all this. It's too much for me to process. And I guarantee that Ellie didn't either. The woman and man started to talk then. "Look, just take them to the north tunnel and wait for me there." the woman said. "Jesus Christ…" the man complained, shaking his head in disbelief. "They're just cargo, Joel." the woman said, also shaking her head. So Joel is the man's name. "Marlene…" Ellie started. "No more talking." Marlene cut her off, straightening herself up. Ellie and I backed up a little bit. "You two will be fine. Now go with him." Marlene stated. I sighed and realized that we had no choice but comply.

"Don't take long. And you two- stay close. Let's go." Joel said, walking out of the door that led to the outside. Ellie and I gazed at each other for a moment before following him outside. It wouldn't be the last time I'd see Marlene after this.


	3. Chapter 3 Outskirts

We were outside now. And the first thing we were greeted with is the scattered bodies of dead Fireflies. Joel walked around and picked up a couple of things off the ground. But I couldn't make out what they were exactly. "Whoa… we heard all the shooting but… what happened?" Ellie wondered, walking around. "The Fireflies. Same thing's gonna happen to us if we don't get off the street." Joel stated, walking down a flight of stairs. The two follow him down those same flight of stairs. "You're the pro. We're only following you." I sigh. He seemed to want to smuggle us as secretive as he could. As we take a small stairway to the next street, a single humvee runs by us.

"Attention. Harboring or aiding wanted criminals is punishable by death. Do not place yourself at risk. Report any suspicious activity immediately." the woman in the loudspeaker announced. I roll my eyes at this. "Damn, we're hardened criminals now? Go ahead and arrest me now, officer." I say, getting Ellie to laugh. "No shit. We're such a danger to these fuckers." she said, joking as well. After a couple of minutes, we come down to what I can only assume to be a deserted apartment yard. Grass was growing from the large cracks in the concrete. "Where are we going?" Ellie wondered. "Up there, that'll get us to the north tunnel." Joel answered, pointing up to the top floor of one apartment. I tilted my head at this because I couldn't figure out how get up there. We couldn't jump our way up there. "How're we supposed to get up there?" I ask. Joel responded but I couldn't make out what he said.

Ellie and I waited on what to do next. "Well, we can't jump up there. Unless we can do acrobatics." Ellie stated. "Yeah really. I'm not that limber." I say, leaning towards her. "Oh I know it." she retorted. I playfully punched her in the shoulder. Before we knew it, Joel had put a dumpster in front of the unusable stairs as a makeshift stepping stool. "Guess that's our cue." I said, jogging up to the dumpster. Ellie was behind me about a few steps. We crawl up the broken staircase and begin our ascend inside the apartment. "This tunnel… is it for smuggling things?" I wonder, walking through the decaying hallway. "Yep." Joel answered. That explains why he knew where to go and how to get in here.

"Like illegal things?" Ellie asked, walking a few steps behind me. "Sometimes." Joel answered, not looking back at us. "Ever smuggle kids before?" Ellie asked. "No, but this is a first." Joel responded, moving casually through the slightly narrowed corridor, "So what's the deal between you two and Marlene, anyways?" "She's our friend I guess." Ellie stated, letting her arms raise and drop against her sides. "You're friend, huh? You two are friends with the leader of the Fireflies, huh? You guys 12 or something?" Joel asked, getting me to roll my eyes. Ellie and I look at each other for a brief moment.

I shake my head and roll my eyes. Damn, we've been with this guy not 5 minutes and he's already getting on my nerves. But I knew better than to start trouble already like I have many times in my past. But if it were to happen now, I do know Ellie will back me up on it. "Well, she knew our moms and she's been looking after us. And I'm thirteen and she's fourteen. Not that has anything to do with anything." I say, correcting him. Ellie looked at me for a brief moment before looking ahead again. I guess she liked that I corrected him on our ages.

"So where are you parents?" he asked, not looking back at us. I gaze down at my feet with a dropped expression. Neither of us knew who our mothers or our fathers were. We were both orphans in this universe. Well, it's the only universe that we know of. Like we know nothing of what the world used to be because this is all we know of.

"Where are anyone's parents? All we know is that they've been gone a long time." Ellie answered honestly. "Hm. So instead of staying in school, the two of you decide to run away to the Fireflies?" he wondered. I look up at his back with furrowed eyes. We've had no choice but to follow Marlene to keep us hidden from the soldiers. We have our reasons that can't be told to him. "Look, we're not supposed to tell you why you're smuggling us if that's where you're getting at." Ellie replied. "Yeah, so I wouldn't keep asking about that." I say, shaking my head. The three of us turn into another corridor that had boxes scattered in it.

"You know the best part of my job? I don't gotta know why. To be honest with you two, I could give two shits about what you are up to." he sneers, not caring. "Well, great." Ellie replied bluntly. "At least we know where we stand." I agree, seeing no other way around this. He doesn't care of what Ellie and I are doing then that's just fine with me.

We then make it to the rendezvous point which was a small apartment complex. Joel opened the door and stepped aside to let Ellie and I in first. "This is it." he said. I walk by the living chair that was in sitting by the window and lean against it. My eyes drift from one corner of the darkened room. Looked boring as shit but what could we do? "What're you doing?" Ellie asked. That got me to look over to her and I see Joel making himself comfortable on the couch. "Killin' time." he tiredly says. Ellie and I exchange glances for a second. "So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" I wonder. "I'm sure you two will figure that out." he said lazily before drifting off to sleep.

Ellie sighed before walking over to me. "You notice that his watch is broke?" she said to me. "Yeah. Not that hard to miss." I reply, shrugging my shoulders. Ellie and I sit by the window and just wait on what was going to happen next. She sat in the chair while I sat on the floor with my right leg under my left one. My left leg was bent up a bit and I rested my left arm on it and leaned against the wall.

"So he gets to sleep while we wait? Yeah, that's fair." Ellie complained. "You're telling me. And… I don't remember you to be the complainer." I joke. She shot me a look that got me to snicker. "You're the same." she said, getting a bit defensive. "Oh yeah? Name one time that I've complained. Name one." I say in a cheeky grin. She turned red at my statement. "You were asking of what we should do. That's a sign of pure complaining." she said, rolling her eyes. "Hey, I was just asking." I replied, "Looks like we've got nothing to do but talk I guess. I mean, we didn't get a chance to catch up since we reunited. It could be a while before Tess gets back."

She nodded in agreement because who knows how long it'll be awhile before Tess does get back so we do have plenty of time to catch up. "So in all seriousness, how the hell did you cope with me being gone? I'm sure you were miserable without me there to be your guidance." she asks bluntly. I glanced down with a frown because that was true. "Yeah. You caught me. I was hella miserable. When you moved to another school, I believed that would be the last time I'd see you. But never did I ever think we'd be here together. I wish it was under different circumstances though." I answered, feeling a pang of hurt hit my chest. "Man, I didn't think you'd…" she started but I stopped her. "Don't take it any further. I'm sure you were just as miserable as me." I replied, looking away for a moment. If I know Ellie, she would be just as miserable as me because at the time before we got seperated, we were inseparable.

Even though we were pried apart, she still is my best friend. Jesse was just my friend that filled in the void of losing Ellie. I do miss him dearly but… not as much as I did Ellie. Seeing how depressed I was getting, she gets up off the chair and she sits on my right side. "In fact, I was. After 5 years, you still haven't forgotten that I get miserable easily." Ellie said, getting me to look at her. A smile etched on my lips and I rub the back of my neck with my left hand. "Yeah, I guess I got you there." I chuckle nervously.

"You're easy to read." she said, smiling back at me. I chuckle because that can't be any further from the truth. "Got to be serious though, how're going to get through this? I'm sure they're soldiers crawling everywhere. And as you said before, they're on your ass already." Ellie said, letting her head lean back against the old, cracked wall. My lips curl and feel my stomach twist because I didn't want them to know about us. "Yeah. That's true. And… how will they react when they know of… you know?" I asked bluntly. I know Ellie is bitten by one of those runners so both of us are in a bit of a pickle.

"Right... chances are they'll probably kill me but… I can't let them. Especially since we're back together again." she said, giving a frown. This is gonna be harder than I thought. "Right. I don't want to lose you again. Fuck, I just got you back and having those soldiers kill you will be the last thing that I want to happen." I reply, sounding forlorn. Ellie doesn't hesitate to bring me into a hug. Hugging her back, my fingers gently rested on her back.

"We'll be careful. Do you… believe me on it being three weeks old?" she asked, still hugging me. "Of course, Ellie. I know you wouldn't lie." I reply. She sighed at what I said because she knew I was right. It felt so good to talk to my long lost friend. We continued to talk for the next couple of hours before it started to get dark and the rain started to pour.

Ellie got back in the chair to gaze outside and I joined her standing up and leaning against the wall with one foot propped up against the wall. We listened to the sound of the pitter patter of the rain hitting the window. It was quite soothing. It was then interrupted by the sound of some mumbling. Ellie and I glance over to see Joel muttering something in his sleep. He must've been dreaming in his sleep. He's the not the only one who mutters in their sleep.

He then wakes up with a soft gasp before he started to sit up. "You mumble in your sleep. Enid and I hate bad dreams." Ellie says, looking ahead and out of the window. Joel sits up and rubs his face to possibly get the sleep out of his aging eyes. "Yeah, me too." he sighed, standing up. I turn my head to look through the rain speckled window. "You know, we've never been this close. To the outside, I mean." I say with a short smile because neither of us have been outside of the wall. All we knew is to keep inside of this stupid quarantine zone and be trained to be one of those damn soldiers.

"Can you believe how dark it is?" Ellie wondered, leaning forward closer to the window. Joel turns and turns on the lantern that was sitting on the side table. "It can't be any worse out there. Can it?" Ellie continued, looking at Joel for a moment before standing up. "Yeah… how dangerous can it be compared to in here?" I added, pushing myself off the wall. Joel turned to face us. "What on earth do the fireflies want with the two of you?" he asked sternly. We couldn't tell him what our reasons were of going to the fireflies. They don't need to know. Ellie only told me her reason because she trusts me.

Seconds after, the door opens and we all glance at the doorway to see Tess. "Sorry it took so long. Soldiers fucking everywhere." Tess apologized, walking to us. "How's Marlene?" Ellie asked in concern. "Yeah, is she alright?" I ask. Tess gazes at us for a moment before telling us that she'll pull through. I gaze at Ellie who was giving the same unconvinced expression as I was. We were both feeling the same thing. I wasn't sure if I can take Tess's word for it. At least not yet.

After a minute of intense thinking, we all went into another room that was adjacent to the one where we spent the rest of the day in. Tess went first, then Ellie, then me, then Joel, who closed the door behind us. Ellie and I stood side by side while Joel and Tess talked.

"You think it's a bit strange that Marlene's having us do their smuggling?" he asked, standing behind her. Tess was looking out of the window as if she was keeping a lookout. I crossed my arms and leaned on one leg. "She wanted to do it herself. We weren't her first choice, or the second for that matter. She's lost a lot of men. Beggars can't be choosers." Tess responded bluntly yet quietly.

I glance down for a moment at what Tess said. I didn't know Marlene lost most of her men since Ellie and I had heard the shooting a while back. It made me worried that we would possibly be shot. But I don't want to jinx us. "You think there will be someone alive to pay us?" Joel asked in a hushed voice. "Someone will be around. Now, c'mon." Tess replied, going to a worn out book case. We watch as she moves it to the left so it revealed a narrow hole in the wall.

One by one, we all squeeze through it to reveal another smaller room that had a generator and what I can only assume to be an elevator of some sort. We all get on it and Joel presses a button to take us down to another level. I take my place by Ellie on her left side as the elevator made a loud noise going down. I didn't hear what Joel and Tess were saying through it. But she turned in Ellie and I's direction. "So what's the deal with the two of you? You two some big wigs daughters or something?" she asked us. The elevator came to a stop and we all stepped off of it.

"Something like that." I answer, walking off of the noisy elevator. "How long will all of this take?" Ellie asked. "If everything goes as planned, it shouldn't take more than a few hours. Ellie, Enid, once we're out there, follow our lead and stay close." Tess instructed. There was a tunnel like path that was lit with a red light that we had to go through. Needless to say, we had to crouch walk through it. Ellie and I agreed with what Tess said because if want to get there in one piece, we would have no choice but to listen to them.

We make it to another secluded where there was a ladder that led to the outside I would assume. "Joel, see if the coast is clear." Tess instructs. Joel climbs up the ladder and opens the passage way. I rubbed the back of my neck and turned it to the side. I didn't think how clammy my skin felt when I touched it. I was feeling quite fucking nervous about this whole thing and Ellie noticed this. "Harper, you okay?" she asked, giving me a concerned look. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I assure her, lowering my hand. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Yeah. Don't worry." I say with a short smile. She grinned back at me as I got through to her.

"Okay, we're good. Come on up." Joel informed, stepping out of the hole. Ellie went first and I was right behind her. "Come on kids." he urged. He helped Ellie out of the hole before helping me with a grunt. The rain started to hit me on my bare arms and on my face and hair. It felt cold against my skin as we got outside.

I looked up at the blackened sky and let out a smile. Ellie was just as fascinated of being on the outside as much as I am because we've never really been outside of the wall. "Holy shit. We're actually outside. Can you believe it, Enid?" she said, looking at me. "Yeah. Yeah, I can." I say with a grin. We walked along the wall and on the moss covered ground. There were a few run down trucks that were partly squished or very moldy due to the years of mother nature taking over.

Joel was in the very back while Tess took the lead. The big lights on top of the walls were shining bright and oscillating back and forth to look for any suspecting people that just happen to be outside of the wall. Hopefully we wouldn't get caught. All I could hear was the sound of the rain hitting everything in sight; it was making a loud sound as well as our feet trudging on the broken and moss covered ground.

Joel made it ahead of us and he begun to lead us to an old truck that was tilted to the right a bit. "Up here." Joel inquired, stepping into the truck. Ellie got in front of me and I followed behind with Tess in the very back. Things take a turn for the worse when Joel makes it to the end. A soldier suddenly came from around the corner and used the butt of their gun to knock him to the ground.

He falls to his hands and knees. "Don't do anything stupid." the woman soldier instructed. I felt anxious because of them pointing their guns at us as if we're a damn threat and the look on my face showed. One by one, we walked out and they lined us up like we were going to be killed.

They placed me by Ellie on her left side. "On your knees." the woman soldier ordered, keeping her gun pointed at us. My stomach was twisted because they were going to check if either of us were infected. We all put our hands behind our heads. The ground felt moist against my knees due to the rain. With a quick glance, Ellie looked nervous as hell. She glanced back at me with that nervous look. We were standing on our knees with our backs straight.

I was the only one who knew that she was bit and because of this it's going to be exposed. Unlike me, I have a sickening feeling that Joel and Tess wouldn't take it lightly. They might assume I'm bitten as well. "You scan 'em. I'll call it in." the woman soldier asked her comrade. "Alright. Put your hands on your head." the first soldier ordered. We did as we were asked, and my hands shook like a leaf. "This is Ramirez at Sector Twelve. Requesting pick up for four stragglers." the woman soldiers said. While my hands were on my head, I took a quick glimpse at the expression on Ellie's face. She looked back at me for a second.

She was just as nervous as I was. Then, I felt the scanner on the back of my head and it was pressed hard against it. Once it beeped, they moved on to Ellie. The second he did that, Ellie was quick to action by bringing out her knife and she stabs the guard in the shin. "Sorry!" she exclaimed. I did the same by lunging at the soldier with my knife. I drove my knife deep into the man's arm. But I was knocked to the ground with a grunt by that soldier.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position. But I was quick to go to where Ellie was while Joel and Tess were killing the soldiers. Two gunshots were fired and both soldiers were dead. I rush over to Ellie in a fast crawl as she backed up to a pile of debris. "Oh… Oh fuck…! I thought we were just gonna hold them up or something." Ellie panted, putting away her knife. She had her knees pulled up partly and she wrapped her arms around her legs partly. I immediately got to her right side and put a hand on her to calm her down. "Ellie, that was crazy." I say in disbelief that she'd attack the guards like that. She glanced at me with a smirk. "Yeah… you did the same. You just jumped… at him and attacked him." she replied, having both hands on the wet ground. "I couldn't let him hurt you." I reply. Before either of us said anything else, Joel's voice boomed at us.

"Marlene set us up? Why the hell are we smuggling an infected girl?!" he shouted, him and Tess standing over us with angered expressions written all over their faces. "I-I'm not infected." Ellie said nervously. "No? What is this lying?! And what about you? Are you infected as well?" Joel argued, chunking the scanner at us. "No! We can explain!" I exclaim, holding my hand out. "Well, you two better explain fast." Tess urged angrily.

Ellie and I look at each other for a moment as if to debate whether or not we should tell them about her bite.

She lifts up her sleeve to reveal the bite. "Look at this!" Ellie said, holding her sleeve up. "I don't care how you got infected. And I can't believe that she's dumb enough to believe it." Joel said, waving his hand and turning his back to us. "It's three weeks old!" Ellie exclaimed, "And Enid does believe me about this!" "No, everyone turns within two days. So you both better stop bullshitting!" Tess exclaimed, pointing her gun at us. "She's telling the truth, okay?!" I exclaim, coming to her defense. "Yeah, why would Marlene set you up?" Ellie added, rolling her sleeve back down. Both adults were stumped at what we said. How could they think we were lying about Ellie's bite mark being three weeks old? Needless to say, I was skeptical to begin with but I did soon believe her.

Then, we all hear rumbling about 10 feet from us. "Oh shit. Run… RUN!" Joel urged, getting us to our feet. "Go, move!" Tess urged, getting Ellie and I to our feet. Adrenaline washed over me when we see that truck move in our direction. The four of us run down an embankment just the officers arrive. Tess was in the front while Ellie was behind her and I was third in line. "Holy shit!" a soldier exclaimed. "I got two dead uniforms. I repeat, two casualties in Sector Twelve. Requesting immediate back up." the second informed from behind us.

We all make it through a pipe that had water dripping from the cracks. "Follow me. Quickly." Tess whispered to us. "Shit, they're out in numbers." Joel seethed quietly as we make it to another area that was covered in debris from the concrete. "Alright, Ellie, Harper. When I give you the signal, we run. Now. Run. Stay away from those lights." Tess urged, taking the lead again. Ellie and I remained crouched as we moved. There were sirens blaring around us because those damn soldiers knew we were here.

We get to another form of debris with one of those sewer pipes in between them. Ellie and I had our backs pressed against them. "Ellie, Enid, it's gonna be another sprint. You two ready?" Tess asked bluntly. As nervous as I was feeling, I was ready to get the hell out of here. Ellie was just as nervous as me. "Sure. Yeah." she gulped in agreement. "Yeah… ready." I pant, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. We go through that pipe in a crouch. I helped myself move along the wet pipe with my hand against the wall.

It led us to another sketchy part of this area. There was a large single wall blocking us from the soldiers that were on another level with guns and flashlights. They were looking for us. "Dammit, they're everywhere!" Joel hissed as he saw the soldiers on the upper level. We carefully follow their lead as we pass the soldiers without being in their eyesight. "_Thank god for that…" _I thought as we passed them. "They must've gotten through. Check the trenches!" a soldier informed, clearly aware we were in the area.

"Just stay back." Joel whispered as we slowly but surely made our way under the soldier's noses. While doing so, my heart wouldn't stop pounding against my rib cage because I was deathly afraid that we'd be caught and possibly shot on sight. The sound of the water falling from the road debris like a waterfall was loud enough to keep our footsteps silent so that helped us stay hidden. "You sure that they came this way? I don't see them anywhere." a soldier addressed to his comrade. "Unless we're told otherwise, we just keep scanning." his comrade answered, still swinging his flashlight back and forth. We make it through the trenches without being caught.

"Stay down, don't let them see you." Joel informed quietly. "Come on, kids. Follow Joel." Tess said to Ellie and I. We didn't argue and just kept following Joel to where we were almost completely out of sight from them, giving us a sign of relief. "Man, too close…" Ellie breathed. "I can't believe that we got passed them…" I said breathlessly. I knew that we were far from out of the woods because the soldiers were everywhere. "Clear back here. How's it look up ahead?" Tess asked. "So far so good." Joel answered quietly. We didn't waste time there and we continued on wards. We make our way through an old building while staying partially lowered to the ground.

"Shh, shh, shh. I hear them up ahead." Tess said, keeping her voice low. I turned to look to my right. There were two more guards standing on a ledge with their guns wielded along with flashlights to spot anything that moved. We all quietly moved passed them. "Ops said they took out a couple of our boys." one said. "It's gotta be those fucking Fireflies retaliating." the second one replied, sounding irritated. "We'll be done with them soon enough." the first one inquired. "Go. Go." Tess whispered, urging us to keep going. We crouch ran past them as they kept looking for us.

"Fuck it. Let the clickers get 'em." the soldier groaned, walking away from their spots. Clicker? The hell is a clicker? Hopefully we won't have to stay long enough to find out. We moved the second those soldiers were out of sight. We jump over a window that had one of those garage doors that you pull up with a chain. "We can get through here. Down through here." Joel said, taking hold of the chain and he started to pull on it. The door began to slowly open.

"C'mon Ellie. C'mon Enid." Tess urged, using her hand to tell us to move. Ellie and I went under the garage door while Tess held it for Joel. From what I see, we had run into a military-filled ruin. "Oh, shit. Another patrol. Everybody get down." Tess said quietly. We hid behind a run down car to keep out of sight. "Come on up, Joel." Tess whispered, taking the lead to another run down building. "I'm coming. I'm coming." he replied, staying crouched to keep out of sight. "There's so many of them. How're we supposed to get past them?" Ellie asked in a lowered voice. "They're everywhere." I whisper, slightly panicked. "They haven't spotted us yet. Let's go around." Joel replied hushed. We quickly crouch ran to the run down building. Those soldiers were everywhere in this area.

"How's it look?" Tess whispered as we all hid behind another wall. Ellie and I kept our bodies pressed against it with our hands on it. "There's too many… Tess?" Joel whispered. Tess kept her back pressed against the same wall Ellie and I were hiding behind. "See if you can distract them." Tess instructed, keeping her gun held up just in case. Joel agreed and picked up a nearby brick. Before the guard could see us, Joel threw it in the other direction and it got the guards attention. I kept looking around to see if there were any more around. I could see one's flashlight about 15 feet from us. "Guys, there's another one over there." I whisper, pointing to where he was. "Shit." Joel hissed, grabbing another brick and throwing it in the opposite direction.

After the guards were distracted, that was our opportunity to escape from this area. We ended up sprinting away from that area while bypassing old, grass filled cars and trucks. We drop down a couple of levels to get to a sewer like tunnel. When I landed, it hurt my feet a little bit because of how high the ledges were. "Are they gonna follow us down here?" Ellie wondered. "We ain't sticking around to find out." Joel answered as we get in another drainage pipe. "Stay low and stay quiet." Tess said quietly. "Hopefully they lost sight of us." I sigh, catching my breath. We finally make it into a drainage area.

"That was too damn close. You better be worth it, kids. Tess, you got any idea which way?" Joel asked. All I did was roll my eyes at that. Ellie does the same thing because we took some offense to what he said. "Uh… it looks so different." Tess uttered. We turned into another room area that shielded us from the rain. Even though we were all drenched from the rain, we have no reason to complain. "Well, at least we're out of the rain." Joel said, somewhat relieved. I stood up straight and stretched my limbs for a moment. Ellie took her place next to me with her hands on her hips. "You think we're in the clear?" she whispered to me. "Not by a long shot. That was fuckin' intense back there." I reply in a hushed tone. She nodded at what I said. We see Joel go through a good sized hole in the wall.

The four of us follow his lead in another area. We pass under another trench with waist deep water. There was a caged road above us and more rain was falling through it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on, hang on. Jesus." Joel exclaimed quietly as the loud rumbling of another patrol Humvee ran above us and passed us. I didn't listen to what those soldiers were saying and I didn't care to. All I cared about was getting the hell out of here. Once we make it out of the water, there was a drainage door that was meant to be our way out of here. "Through here." Joel said, going to the door and he grabbed onto it and opened it with a loud creak. By this time, I was out of breath and needed a break. But it was far from over from this point.


	4. Outskirts 2

Ellie and I walk to a seat like ledge that was sitting on the outside of that sewer gate. Ellie sits down and leaned over with put her hands together. I put my hands on my hips and I stand next to her. We had to gather our thoughts for a moment. Everything was hitting us all at once and I couldn't think straight, especially with all of those soldiers that tried to kill us. It was a lot to take in.

"So… what was the plan you two? Let's say we deliver you two to the Fireflies, then what?" Tess asked, kneeling next to Ellie, her eyes looking from me to Ellie. I sigh and look down for a moment. "Marlene had said that… there's another little quarantine zone with doctor's there still trying to find a cure." I said in between breaths. Not all of us were pleased to hear this. "Oh, we've heard that one before, haven't we Tess?" Joel said in a cold tone. Ellie and I look up at him with a look of disbelief. "And whatever happened to me is the key to finding a vaccine." Ellie added, trying to clear up what's going on. "Oh Jesus." Joel groaned, annoyed. "Look, that's what she told us, okay?" I say, trying to defend us. We're going by what Marlene said to Ellie and I.

"Oh, I'm sure she did." Joel continued to dis what Marlene said. "Hey, fuck you man! Enid and I didn't ask for this." Ellie exclaimed, standing up. "Yeah, neither did I." Joel said coldly before going to Tess. I shake my head and walk a couple of steps away from him. Ellie stands by me with her hands on her hips. "This shit is nuts. Can you believe this?" Ellie whispered to me. "No I can't. This is fucking ridiculous." I said, shaking my head. "He doesn't want to do what Marlene told him." Ellie said in a low whisper. "And that he's not believing she didn't set him with us doesn't help either." I respond, crossing my bare arms. Why did this guy have to be such a dick to Ellie and I? That's the kind of thing I don't like in people. And I've encountered assholes like that in my life. I'm pretty sure Ellie has too.

"Do I need to remind you what's out there?" Joel asked, pulling Tess aside. She shakes her head at what Joel said. "I get it." she replied, walking away from him. Ellie and I follow behind her while giving Joel cold glances. What he said earlier didn't sit well with me. But, we did have a place to get to. The four of us start walking under the moss covered bridge. "This way. If we cut through downtown, we can hit the capitol building by sunrise." Tess informed, taking the lead. We follow her up a couple of broken debris that used to be highways. From the looks of it anyway.

After that, the rain started getting a little heavier and we ended up walking through some ankle deep water, which soaked my shoes. We make it to the infamous skyscrapers that you could see from a distance. Now that we were standing by them, they were much bigger.

"Holy moley! I guess this is what these buildings look like up close." Ellie said in slight disbelief, looking up at the buildings. I too look up at the buildings. "They're so damn tall. So… what happened here?" I ask, taking note of the area around us. We jogged up alongside of a platform that was from one of the skyscrapers.

"They bombed the hell out of the surrounding areas to the quarantine zones, hoping they'd kill as many infected as possible. It worked. For a while." Tess answered. Looking at the area, it did seem that those soldiers had bombed the shit out of it that made it break down. Aside from the grass and various plants growing from the sides of buildings and from the roads making it look pretty.

As we make our way up, we hear a weird cry in the distance; sending shivers up my spine. "Uhhh, what the hell was that?" Ellie wondered. "That sounded freaky." I say, rubbing my bare arms. That was the weirdest sound I've ever heard in my life. It didn't sound human at all. It sounded like it came from something much more dangerous and scary. "Tess, do you hear that?" Joel asked, now aware that something was out there. After that, we make it to what I can only describe as a bomb crater. It was much deeper than I thought it was. Ellie and Tess stood on ledges while Joel and I stood back a bit.

"Damn, that's quite a drop." Ellie comments, taking a look down with her hands on her knees. I trot up to where she was and saw how high it was. It was so high that if someone were to drop down, they wouldn't survive. My eyes scan left to right at the debris covered area. "So… is this the downtown area?" I ask. "It was. Now it's just a giant wasteland." Tess answered. She wasn't wrong because of the multiple cracked walls, the bent truck that blocked a passage with a squished truck.

"Hey, over here." Joel called. We followed to where he was. He was near a ruined skyscraper. The whole building looked like it was going to fall over because of how unstable it was. Ellie and I walked around the area while Joel and Tess started searching for supplies. "You find anything over there?" Joel called. "No." Tess replied in defeat. "Should Enid and I do anything?" Ellie wondered. "You two just stay with Tess for now." Joel instructed. There was no point in arguing with that statement so I just gave a lazy shrug.

"Alright then." I said. It didn't take long until Joel started climbing his way into the building where we were at. The building alone looked as if it was going to fall apart any moment and I felt unnerved by it. Joel took the lead once again with the rest of us following behind him. He enters another plant filled corridor and my eyes lay upon a soldier, all mangled up on the ground. "He's been ripped apart." Tess informed. Ellie stood next to me as we look down at the blood covered remains. "Oh man…" I said, seeing just how mangled this guy was. "Bodies fresh." Tess said. He was killed… but by what though?

"Is that bad?" Ellie asked. "Yeah might be… Let's not stick around." Tess responded urgently. "What do you think he was killed by?" I asked, unsure of what he was killed by was dangerous. "Not sure. But let's get moving." Tess answered. That didn't assure me in the least bit. We continue our way up another stairwell that led us up another floor. There was another mangled body sitting by the next set of stairs with a note next to him.

"Another one. Shit." Tess seethed. Hopefully, there wouldn't be anymore of these guys because seeing them meant that some infected had killed them. Joel inspected the guy for a moment. "Looks like these guys died waiting for backup." he informed. Sure as hell looks like it. The four of us move along through the other slanted corridors with water dripping from the constant rain. Joel picked up a few things before going passed us.

The sound of him letting out a gasp made us go back into the corridor. "Dammit, clicker." he gasped. There was some weird infected corpse that seemed to be attached to the door. "Damn, what's wrong with its face?" Ellie questioned. "That's what years of infection will do to someone." Tess replied. Shivers ran down my spine with that information. "Are they blind or something?" I asked because of the infection seeming to make the infected completely blind. "Technically. They see using sound." Tess answered. We watched as Joel pulled off the infected from the door.

"Like bats?" Ellie asked. "Exactly. If you hear one clicking, you gotta hide. That's how they spot you." Tess answered. I rubbed my bare arms at that because that's scary as hell. Now we have to be as quiet as possible to avoid these damn things. Ellie and I gave each other scared look because none of us had heard of this before other than the runners.

Joel opened the door and once again took the lead as to where we should go. There was grass growing through the walls and through the floor. We go through furniture that seemed to be used as a barricade. There was a hole big enough for us to fit through. Just as we got through, we all felt the building suddenly shake, making the old furniture shift a bit. The shake made me lose my balance and Ellie ended up catching me. "Whew thanks." I say, standing back up. "No problem. Let's hope that doesn't happen again. That's scary as hell." Ellie replied. "Yeah… This building feels like it's going to fall apart." I breathe, my heart pounding from slight fear. We didn't feel comfortable being in a building that would fall apart at any given moment.

We waited as Joel and Tess tried getting another door open. Ellie and I stood by them so we could move the minute the door was open. After a few hefty pushes, they got it open while knocking something heavy over. They walked out to the next corridor. Just as they walk out, a distinct yet terrifying clicking sound alerted us. "Joel!" Tess shouted, quickly pulling out her gun. Joel didn't have time to react as the clicker jumped on him the second he turned around. Ellie and I jumped back in fear and we caught each other.

Tess kicked the clicker off of it and held it down with her foot. The infected started fighting against the iron stomp from Tess's foot. She fired her gun three times to kill it. It died after the third shot. It was silent again. My heart was pounding like a hammer hitting nails. "Thanks." Joel said, getting back up to his feet. "You alright?" Tess asked, stepping off of the now dead infected. "It's nothing." Joel bluntly answered. I think this wasn't the first time that he's been attacked by those fucking things.

Ellie and I follow Tess into another room that looked to be a break room at one point before. "Let's search for supplies." Tess pants. I stayed by Ellie and Tess because that was scary. "Shit! Man, that was intense!" Ellie breathed, still a bit shaken of what just happened. "You can say that again." I say, my hands shaking. Tess gave Joel something to patch himself up. Seeing that clicker first hand like that scared the shit out of Ellie and I. Now we saw what those fuckers are capable of.

We continued our way down into the corridor through another doorway in silence. The sound of water falling from the holes that were in the ceiling was what we were listening to. We come to another room and the first thing my eyes set sight on is a body hanging halfway off of a ledge, clearly dead. "Up there. Look." I said, pointing up at where the body. "Yeesh…" Ellie cringed, seeing the body also. It was pretty disturbing see what those fuckers had left behind. Tess had walked up to the ledge and asked Joel to give her a boost. He obliged and locked his fingers together. "See if there's a way out." Joel said, lifting her up to the next level.

I watched as she cautiously looked around. "Okay, it's clear. C'mon Ellie and Enid." Tess informed, leaning down with her arm extended so Ellie and I could get up there. "You go first, Ellie." I say. I stand by the wall and wait my turn. When Ellie was up there, Tess leaned down to help me up. "C'mon Enid." Tess said. I bent down and leaped up, catching Tess's arm with both of my hands with a grunt. She pulled me up with a grunt. Once I got up, Ellie helped me stand up straight. I took a few steps back and looked around for a moment while Tess pulled Joel up.

My heart suddenly jumped into my chest when a distant sound of clicking got our attention. "Clickers?" Ellie said, sounding panicked now. "Oh shit! Go, go!" Joel urged, getting us to move away from that area. It was only for a second but I saw that clicker within that time span. The sound it made sent chills up my spine and my eyes widened. We all quickly hid behind a desk to keep out of sight. I was between Ellie and Joel.

The clicking from that fucker grew louder and louder as it staggered its way towards us. God, I felt like I was going to vomit from how scared I was. We all look up for a second and it was up there above us. Ellie quickly grabbed my hand at my hand and I didn't hesitate to squeeze back. I could tell how tense she was by how hard she held my hand.

In my peripheral vision, Tess picks up something up off the ground. I could only assume that she was going to distract the clicker. She did say that clickers get around by using their hearing. So that's perfect. She lifted up slowly and threw the object at the other side of the room, alerting the clicker. The minute it left, we moved on while remaining crouched. "That's our way out, over the scaffolding." Tess whispered to us, leading us to a scaffolding that would lead us to another area. One by one we climbed over the scaffolding so we were out of sight of the clicker.

We stand back up and I try to catch my breath from the intensity of that encounter. "I think that's it. Ellie, Harper, you okay?" Tess asked. "Other than shitting my pants, I'm fine. You good, Harper?" Ellie replied, looking over at me. I swallowed and pushed myself back up. "Yeah. I'm good. I'm with you there on shitting myself. Man that was scary." I answer. We waited a moment before Joel decided to find us a way out of here. He had cleared the stairway by moving a filing cabinet out of the way. "Here you go, ladies." he said, holding it for us. Tess, Ellie, and I move through there so that we were on the floor below us.

When Joel got down with us, we tried figuring out where to go. "The stairwell is blocked. Should we go back up?" Ellie wondered. "Ahh, this is crazy." Tess said, climbing out to a rusted window washing rig. My stomach dropped at this. "You can't be serious right now!" I exclaim. I forgot to mention that I'm afraid of heights and this doesn't help my case. "C'mon Ellie and Enid." Tess said, getting over it. We had not choice in this matter. Ellie went before me and I did my best not to look down.

This rig looked as if it would fall of the building because of how rusted it was. I was shaking not only from the cold but also of how high it was from the ground. "Don't look down… just don't look down." Ellie repeated as we scale the window with our backs to the wall. I looked off to the side to avoid looking down. "You guys are okay. We got a way through." Tess assured. We made it to another level of the building. At that, relief washed over me because we were on solid ground. Well sort of. "You okay, Enid? I forgot that you were scared of heights." Ellie asked, taking notice of how pale I had become.

I swallowed and looked at her. Needless to say, I didn't want to freak her out. Especially when we're trying to get somewhere. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I don't want to do that again." I answer, giving her assurance. "We won't have to. Let's move." Tess said. We pass back into a corner window. The minute we walked in, the sound of infected made themselves known on the lower level. Immediately, Ellie and I take cover so we wouldn't be spotted. "Runners." Tess informed quietly, pressing her body up against a wall. "I'll go check it out. Stay with the girls." Joel replied, making his way down to where they were. All we had to do was wait for Joel to give us the cue.

I was feeling scared while he was down there because I could hear screeching from the clicker and the moaning from the runners. We all hear Joel killing them in a systematically way. Those sounds slowly got quieter and quieter until the sound of the rain was the only thing we heard. "Alright, come on down." Joel called. We stood back up and drop down to where he was. We saw the bodies of 4 runners and 1 clicker lay on the ground.

"I'm impressed, Joel." Tess whistles. "Pssh. Let's get outta here." Joel said, pushing himself up to another level. We follow suit so that we were at another door. There was something in front of the next door and Joel had to move it. As Joel held it, Tess, Ellie, and I quickly go in while he held it. "Here- this'll work. Alright, give me a hand, you two." Tess said, getting behind an old crate that would be big enough to prop the door open for Joel. I get in between Ellie and Tess in order to help them push it. We all pushed it with little effort to get it to the door.

Once it was propped open, Joel releases the object that he was holding and the door was standing open. "Alright, that should do it." Ellie said. We start walking out of the room with Joel behind us. "There, see? We're doin' alright." Tess assured. We make our way to another part of the building. The floor in this part was caved in with the rain falling through the caved in ceiling. This area looked like the rain forests from what I've heard about. All I did was look around in amazement. Ellie leaned down a little bit to look below at the next level.

"Down we go." Tess said. We start to go down to the lower level by Joel's lead. We descend down to the next level. "You know, I was thinkin'... after we get back, we can take it easy for a little while." Tess said to Joel. "You want to take it easy?" Joel asked. "Well, you're the one who's always going on about layin' low." Tess replied, a chuckle coming from her throat. "And you always brush me off." Joel said, going through another slanted corridor. "Well, I won't this time." Tess said. I don't want to know what they meant by that but I won't ask questions.

We make it to a subway; however, the debris that had fallen from the ceiling made it hard to see in here. It was damp also from the constant rain and years of neglect. "Joel, over here." Tess informed. I stuck with Ellie and we walked around the place while looking around. "Look at his sleeve. Firefly." Tess said, her voice echoing off the walls. I glanced behind me to see that there was a dead Firefly laying in a pool of blood. Seems like those clickers or something had to have torn him to pieces.

There was another hole that had the four of us crouch to the ground. We were about to stand up but clicking had kept us grounded. "Over there, see it?" Joel whispered. In seeing those clickers, we had to hide behind some cabinets. Ellie was by Tess and I was by Joel. "God, we're almost out." Tess sighed, looking over the cabinet for a moment. She then looks away in desperation. "Joel, you take point. I'll take the rear. Ellie, Enid, stay right on his heels." Tess reminded. "Sure." Ellie nodded. "Okay." I agree. And with that, the four of us started creeping our way past the noisy infected.

Going by them while they're about an inch away from you is legit fucking scary. Ellie stayed right by my side the entire time to keep me calm. Their erratic movements in their limbs and the croaky clicking sound honestly sent shivers through me. The dark didn't make me feel any better. Our only source of light was from Joel and Tess's flashlights that were attached to their backpacks.

Ellie and I quietly move with Joel and Tess through the station. The two kill a few clickers as we make our way to the exit. "Over here." Tess whispered, pointing to a ladder that was sitting on the next level. Joel quickly raises up to grab it. It drops down so we could climb it. Tess is the first to climb it, then Ellie, then me, then Joel. When we got out of there, my heart started to slow down in speed.

We were back outside and I could finally breathe. "Holy shit. We actually made it." Ellie panted. "Everyone okay?" Joel asked. "Yes. Let's move." Tess answered. "You guys are damn good at this." I compliment. There is a downtown proper that we entered into. I look up at the next ledge that towered over us. We went in a giant circle just to get down here. There was a building in the form of a church or something like that had a giant hole in the wall of it. "It's called luck. And it will run out." Joel said in a low voice as we walk towards where we're supposed to go.

Ellie and I stand aside while Joel and Tess discussed where we were going next. "You alright, Enid? You looked pretty freaked out back there." Ellie asked, giving me a concerned look. "Yeah. I am now. That was fucking scary." I answer, swallowing hard. "Yeah… yeah it was." Ellie agreed. "So where to now Tess?" Joel question, standing next to Tess. "Um… Capitol building's in this direction." she answered, pointing over at the truck that was caught in between two abandoned buildings. I cock my eyebrow at this because there was no way that we could get over this.

"How do we get over this truck?" Ellie asked. "Yeah. I don't see anything that we can use to get over it." I add, walking around the area. I didn't see anything that we could use as a stool to get over it. "Well, let's see what we can find." Tess responds with a sigh. Out of the corner of my eye, Joel walked into one of the buildings but he quickly got down to a crouch. There was infected inside of the building. The rest of us stay back as he dealt with them silently.

Once they were dealt with, Joel walked over to a dumpster that was sitting in the middle of the room. We follow him and I see that there was three runners were laying in a formation of 3. Joel must've strangled them to kill them. "They're recently infected. Those soldiers must've just turned." Tess warned, sending a chill up my spine.

"Which means there's more in the area. We need to move." Joel responds urgently, pulling a cart out from inside of the building. He took it to the truck so it would be used as our stepping stool. "Alright. Come on up." Joel inquired, climbing to the top of the truck. Tess follows suit and jumps on the other side. "Ellie, you go first. I'm right behind you." I said, locking my fingers together to help her up on the truck. "Okay." Ellie nodded, putting her foot in my locked fingers. I lift her up on the truck. Once she was on it, she bent down and extended her arm down to me.

I jump and catch her arm with both hands. She hoisted me up on the top of the truck. I pant and brush myself down. "There we go." she said, patting me once on the back. "Thanks." I say, jumping down to the other side with her in tow. Joel and Tess were at a garage type door. Joel grabs the chain and begins to pull it to open it. "Sshh-sshh…" Tess says, getting Joel to stop. There was a distinct sound of infected beginning to close in. "What? I don't hear anything." Joel answered, stopping to listen. I look behind me and feel a shiver run up my spine.

Ellie was looking just as scared as I was. "Okay double time." Tess urged. Joel started to pull the chain faster. "They're coming!" Ellie warned. "Oh god, they're everywhere!" I cry, seeing the infected coming over the truck. "I know." Joel says, pulling the chain as fast as he could now. Tess then holds the garage door open. "Okay, that's good, that's good! Go!" she frantically said, holding it open for us. I quickly look behind me to see a horde of them coming our way.

Ellie grabs my hand and she pulled me under the garage. "Okay." Ellie said in a pant. "We're in." I say, feeling my heart beating out of my chest. The infected started crowding the door. Tess and Joel quickly make it under the door in the nick of time. "Drop it!" Joel shouted as one of the infected reached for him. Tess dropped the door and it landed on the runners hand. All of us backed up slowly while those runners started banging on the door.

When the banging ceased, Ellie released my hand and I caught that I was out of breath. "Oh… You got something on your shoe." Ellie said, looking down. I gaze down at what she was talking about and there was the runner's hand on Joel's shoe. "Ugh…" I groan. "Gross." Ellie said in disgust. Joel kicks off the hand and begins to walk around in search for supplies I would assume. "How do we get out of here?" Joel questions. "Let's look around." Tess answers, walking around a truck. Ellie and I just walk around behind Tess.

Now that we were here, I did want to know how Ellie had gotten bitten. However, as her friend, I don't want to pressure her into telling me and I also wanted to know. "So Marlene thinks you're immune?" Tess asks to Ellie. "Well, that's what she believes." Ellie answers. "So… how did you get bitten? Were you somewhere you weren't supposed to be to find infected?" I ask. Ellie looks at me and rubs the back the back of her neck. "Like you, Enid. I snuck out. We were in that military boarding school remember?" Ellie answered. "You two snuck out?" Tess inquired, surprised at both of us. It's not the first time Ellie and I had snuck out before. Needless to say, we had gotten in trouble.

"I was in the mall when I ran into infected. What about you, Harper? Didn't you say that you snuck into a grocery store?" Ellie asked. I felt a lump in my throat because I didn't deal with infected. It was those asshole soldiers who made it hell for me. "Yeah. The soldiers were on my ass." I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Those places are completely off limits. How the hell did you make it in there?" Tess asks. It still amazes me that Ellie and I did the exact same thing with our friends however we didn't know we were in the same city.

"We… had our ways. Right, Ellie?" I say, hands on my hips. She gives me a small smirk because that was far from a white lie. She chuckled and looked down for a moment. We did have our ways of sneaking passed the soldiers that guards. "Hell yeah. It was one of those runners that had bit me. And… that was that. What about you, Harper? You never did tell me how you got that scar across your eye." Ellie asked. I lift my hand up and rub the scar across my eye. It was true that I never told her about how I got this scar.

"One of those soldiers shot me. I'm lucky to not have lost my eye." I said. "I see." Tess replied. I crossed my arms and looked back at Joel, he was working with his weapons. "Were you with Marlene when you were bitten?" Tess questioned. "No. I went to her for help afterwards." Ellie answers. "And you? You weren't bitten. Bet you were in a hell of a lot of trouble with Marlene after she found out about your whereabouts." Tess said. I was flustered because that wasn't far from the truth. "Yeah, I was. Damn, did I get a good scolding for it."

"And where was I when this was happening?" Ellie jokes. I give her a playful shove. "Getting bitten. Took a good portion of your time I suppose." I reply in a smart ass tone. This makes her chuckle for a second. It sounded nervous. In all seriousness, I was just as worried about Marlene as much as Ellie was in this moment of time. "Hopefully Marlene is okay." Ellie says, her voice carrying that pang of perturbation. Normally, she's not much of a person that shows worry but for Marlene's sake, it was evident.

"I told you two, she'll be fine." Tess urged, walking through another doorway. We follow her. The next room we are in looked as if it would collapse any minute. The only nice thing here was a solitary vase that was sitting on an old dresser. As I looked around, there was a crash from behind me.

"Ow shit! Sorry that was me." Ellie apologizes. I jog over to her. "You have broken the only nice thing in this place. What will I do with you?" I joke. "I will punch you." she replies, socking me in my shoulder. We were then called to the upper level. We walk up the splintered plank and we came to a weird looking room with objects sitting in cracked, broken glass cases. Debris was scattered all over the faded carpeted floor.

"What is this place?" Ellie asks curiously. "An old museum. Some of the stuff here is hundreds of years old." Tess answers. "Really? Cool." I answer, seeking interest to old things. "Hey, Enid, check this out." Ellie called, pulling my arm. I walk with her to an old ship structure enclosed in a broken glass case. "Wow. Pretty fucking cool." I say, giving a smirk. Ellie agreed with me on that.

After that, Joel found us a way through. He had to lift up some debris to get us through. "Watch your heads. Hurry go, go." Joel strained. Ellie and Tess had made it through but Joel drops the debris before I could get through with a loud crash. "Shit! Joel! Joel!" Tess cried. I fell back and coughed heavily from the dust. "Enid! Are you okay?" Ellie exclaimed, sounding panicked. "We're alive. We'll make our way around to you." Joel answers before the sound of clicking and screeching filled the room.

"Look, they're here!" Tess yelled, pushing Ellie away from the room. Joel cursed under his breath. "What do we do?" I whisper, keeping crouched. "Don't make a sound. And stay close." Joel instructs, keeping his voice low. We quietly move through into another room. My heart jumped into my throat when the clickers made their appearance. They stumbled around the hallway and into the other rooms.

Thankfully, we snuck passed the clickers and up a flight of stairs. Then, my ears catch the rough sound of fighting in the other room. "Joel, they're in there!" I yell, suddenly standing up. Joel kicks down the door with a single hit and we see Tess fighting a runner. She wins the fight by pushing it to the floor and bashing it's fungus infected head with a bat. She throws it on the ground.

"I'm fine." she pants. Then, the sound of Ellie's panicked cry caught my attention. "Guys! Get in here!" she yelled. "Ellie!" I shout, not hesitating to save her. Bringing out my knife, I see a runner attacking her. I drive the blade of my knife deep in the runners back. Once it was off, we grab each others hand and start running around. So much sweat covered my hand and it was making it hard to hold on.

We had no choice but to run from the runners as Joel and Tess took them out one by one with their guns and fists. My whole body was shaking with fear and adrenaline when the runners tried grabbing us. Once everything died down, we gathered by an open window. I couldn't breathe from how much running we were doing.

"Tess, you good?" Joel asks, walking up to us. "Just a bit winded. Let's go." Tess answered, going out of the window. "How about you two?" Joel asks. "Define okay." I pants, my hands on my knees. "You two still breathing?" he wondered. "Do small, panicked breaths count?" Ellie swallows. He said that they in fact counted.

"Then, we're good." Ellie said, straightening up. Joel then jumps out of the window with Ellie and I go after him presently up a couple of metal stairs. Reaching the rooftop, we see it's early in the morning. The sky overcasted us with a mix of light blue with peach colored clouds. The sun rose in a small orange ball, illuminating everything in its path.

"Hey, Enid?" Ellie said, nudging me. I glanced at her with a grin. "Thanks for the save back there." She said gratefully. "No problem Ellie. Would your best friend ever leave you in the hands of the infected?" I answer with a chuckle. Knowing her, she'd do the same for me if I was in the same situation. Joel walks by us with a long, wooden plank.

He placed it across a gap so we'd move forward. Ellie and I jog over to it. "Now watch your steps because it's going to be-" Joel states but was interrupted by Ellie's sarcastic scoff. "We got this." I say with sass, following her across the plank. Once we make it across, I glance at the sunrise ahead. Witnessing it was honestly amazing. Neither Ellie nor I had ever got the opportunity to see the sunrise.

Boston wasn't exactly the most peaceful city so we can't relax long enough to let it soak in. "So, is this everything you two hoped for?" Joel asks. We glance at him with a grin. "Jury's still out. But man, you can't deny the view though." Ellie shrugs with a smile. "I couldn't agree more." I say with a smile.

"C'mon. This way." Tess urged. Ellie and I don't argue and descend down the ladder. That made me wonder what made Tess want to rush us towards the Capitol Building so suddenly? It didn't sound good.


	5. Chapter 5 Bitter Sacrifice

No more than a few hours pass by us faster than I could blink. We drop down to an alleyway. The capitol building was in full view. We were almost there. "It's around this corner, c'mon." Tess says, pointing forward. We all walk down a couple of flights of stairs. Once we reached the bottom, we try to find another way out.

"Look at this." Joel calls. We look over to see the slumped body of a Firefly in the corner of the area we were in. "There's a Firefly logo on his arm." Ellie points out. Where there's a dead Firefly, it could mean that there's more in the area. "What if they're all dead when we make it?" I ask sounding concerned. Tess groaned from frustration from my question. "They won't be." she replied. "How do you know?" Ellie wondered, standing next to me. "I just do. It'll be fine." Tess said, sounding impatient.

Something in my gut was telling me that wasn't true. It made me nervous. Joel moves a stray dumpster by an open catwalk. We all cross it and start jogging towards the capitol building. However, there was deep, green, mossy water flooding the street. "Just so it's out there, Enid and I can't swim." Ellie informs. "Alright, it looks shallow over there. Follow me." Tess says, following her lead. It came to our waist so Ellie and I had to lift up our arms while moving through the water.

"Look, we're happy Marlene hired you guys." I say. "How do you mean?" Tess asked. "Well, we know you two are getting your guns back once we're done" Ellie adds. We make it to the steps and up to the front door. Joel opens the door and was the first to go in. Just as I predicted, there were dead Firefly's on the floor. They were covered in blood. "No." Tess gasps, running to one of the Fireflies and starts to frantically search the Fireflies body.

Ellie and I walk in with looks of surprise on our faces. "What happens now?" Ellie wondered, looking at Joel. We walk to the side. "Enid, how'd you know that this would…" Ellie began. "I-I don't know. I had a gut feeling…" I reply, feeling a little sick. I cross my arms and gaze at the floor for a second. Tess kept searching for something. "What are you doing, Tess?" Joel asks, walking to her. "Maybe they, ah, left a map or something that could tell us where we're going." she answers quickly.

"How far are we gonna take this?" Joel asks her. I take a step forward and lean over a bit to get a better view of Tess's scavenging. Something was up. "As far as it needs to go!" Tess replies before turning to Ellie and I, "Where's this lab of theirs?" Ellie and I look at one another. "Oh she never said. Enid, didn't she say that is was someplace outwest?" Ellie questioned. "Yeah. She did say that." I reply with a couple of nods.

"What are we doing here? This isn't us." Joel interrupts. Tess springs up with a gaze of anger. "What do you know about us? About me?" Tess spat. "I know that you're smarter than this." Joel says. "Really? Guess what, we're shitty people Joel. It's been like that for a long time." Tess inquired. "No, we're the survivors!" Joel said, raising his voice. "This is our chance-" Tess begged but only to get yelled at by Joel. "It is over, Tess! Now we tried. Let's go home." Joel said, lowering his voice.

Tess's expression dropped from anger to forlorn. "I'm not… I'm not going anywhere. This is my last stop." Tess says. Those words made my stomach drop from anxiousness. What does she mean last stop? "What?" Joel asks, not convinced. "What was it that you said? Our luck would soon run out." Tess said, walking away from him with her head hanging low. With the face that Ellie gave me, showed that she knew something was off about Tess.

Joel tried reaching out to her but she pushed him back. "No don't- don't touch me…" Tess panted. "Holy shit…" I say, feeling the color from my skin drain. Joel looked at us. "She's infected." Ellie breathed. The very concept of that soon changed the lives of all involved in this situation. It was as if a brick hit Joel square in the face.

Joel turns to Tess, who was visibly upset. "Let me see it." He said softly. "Joel, I didn't mean for this-" Tess stuttered. Joel demanded to see it. With an angered look, she pulls back the collar of her shirt. There was a huge bite mark on the base of her neck. My heart sank to my feet.

"Oh Christ…" Joel gasped, taken aback. It didn't look anything like Ellie's bite. "Oops, right?" Tess scoffs. She then looks over at Ellie and grabs her arm. "This is 3 weeks!" Tess says, pulling her sleeve up to reveal her bite, "I was bitten an hour ago and it's already getting worse! This is fucking real, Joel! Enid might even be immune to this too!" she exclaimed, pointing at it.

Ellie and I back up and she rolls her sleeve down. I look at her with a look of concern. She didn't have to bluntly tell me that she was guilty about Tess's fate. "Ellie?" I quietly say. I can easily read her face. "It's my fault." she replied. "Don't say that. It's not your fault." I reply. "It's got to be." she replied silently. Just before I could respond, the distinct sound of a truck engine could be heard just outside.

"They're here." Tess said, taking a look out of the window. "Damn it." Joel lowly replied. "I can buy you three some time but you need to run." Tess warned, taking her gas mask and gives me it. "Tess, I can't take it." I protest, shaking my head. "You have to. Take it." she urged. I sigh and put it in my backpack. "Wait, you want us to leave you here?" Ellie asked, taking a step forward. Tess nodded at her question.

"There's no way that-" Joel starts but Tess cuts him off. "I will NOT turn into one of those things." she says with determination. The two fell silent. "Please make this easy for me. Get them to Tommy's." she asks, lowering her voice. "I can fight-" Joel tried but Tess pushed him away. "No, just go! Just fucking go…" Tess exclaimed, looking sad. Joel looked at us, "Ellie, Enid?" We take a couple of steps forward.

"We're sorry. We didn't mean for this." Ellie retorts, shaking her head. "Yeah, we-" I start. "Get a move on." Joel instructs. We do just that and Joel eventually follows. I look back at Tess once more before darting to another room. When we make it, Joel shuts the doors behind him. Adrenaline was racing through me. "What the fuck?! I can't believe we did that!" Ellie exclaimed. "We left her to fucking die!" I add, standing next to Ellie. "Stop! You two stay close to me, we got to move." Joel said, keeping his voice lowered.

The three of us quickly make our way up a flight of stairs as gunfire made an uproar in the other room. Ellie and I look at each other for a minute as we make it to the next floor. It grows eerily silent. "Target neutralized. She took out two of my men. You, take out the door. You, with me." a soldier orders. We get to a balcony. Tess was lying among the dead Fireflies in a pool of blood. She had been shot and killed by those soldiers.

"Oh my god…" Ellie gasps. "Tess no…" I breathe, my blood turning to ice. Joel stays composed and he led us through another area. I then hear the sound of banging from below. "Enid?" Ellie whispered. "Tell me that I'm not the only one who heard that." I reply. "No. They're gonna be here soon." she whispered. We move faster.

"Proceed with caution. There's 3 more in here." another soldier said. The next room we go into had a giant hole in the side of the wall. We all jump through and make it to another part of the building. My heart was jumping into my throat because neither of us don't know where those fuckers are at.

"What do we do? Joel?" Ellie asks as we hide behind a table. "I got this." Joel replied, reloading a shotgun that he found from a dead soldier. They're boots stomped on the floor as they got closer; however we make it passed them. There was a set of broken stairs that moved us to the ground floor. "What do we do?" Ellie asks. We crouch behind a glass exhibit case. "How're we getting out of here, Joel?" I whisper, keeping myself out of sight. "We're gonna go through that hallway. Stay down; I don't know how many there are." Joel whispered.

Moving forward, both Ellie and I overhear the distinct conversations of the soldiers. "They haven't found the last three." one guy says. "I hear two of 'em are kids." another said. "Does it matter? They took out a shit ton of our guys." the first soldier said annoyed. Their steps sounded close and Joel took the opportunity to strangle them. Once he was down, we made it out of there.

"Guys, over there." I say, pointing towards an abandoned subway. "Yeah. There are stairs over there." Ellie added. Joel tells us to stay low. We drop down and immediately hear a Humvee behind us. "Oh shit! C'mon!" Ellie cries, pulling my bare arm. "They're following us!" I cry, seeing them. We all make it deeper into the tunnels. There were spores lingering in the air and I slip on the gas mask that Tess gave me. It fit perfectly.

Ellie and I hid behind a shit ton of debris. Joel started coming and I pull him down behind the wall. "Joel get down!" I whisper. He does so as soldiers make their way over to this area. "There's a soldier over there." Ellie said quietly. We all listened for a moment. Joel looks over at Ellie and noticed how she noticed how she wasn't wearing a gas mask.

"How the hell are you breathing in this stuff?" he whispered. "Unlike you, Enid knew I was telling the truth." Elle replied, locking eyes with me. We remain silent while two soldiers were talking. "Did you spot 'em?" one said. "No, place is empty." the second responds. "Let's find them and get the hell out of here. Clickers are bound to show up." the first said. Joel easily took them out by strangling them one by one. "Oh my god." Ellie pants, standing up. I stand up too and stressed.

While Joel looked around for a way through, Ellie comes up to me. "Damn, just when I thought you couldn't get any creepier." Ellie teased playfully. I turn to her and make a growling sound with both arms up. "Rawr! I'm gonna get ya! You better start running!" I reply in a growly voice. "Oh, no! What am I gonna do?" she playfully yells. We then share a laugh at our amusement. It wasn't the first time that we played together like that.

We move on to a submerged part of the subway. The water came up to our hips so we had to hold up our arms. "Ellie? Enid?" Joel called from the other side of the spore covered subway. "We're fine." Ellie said. Joel climbs up on the edge. "Hey look. They still work." Ellie said, picking up two flashlights that were from a decaying body. She tosses me one and I put it on my bag. "Now you can see better through that monster mask of yours." Ellie said, giving me a playful poke. I play shove her back.

"Oh shut up." I chuckle. "Just joking. You never can take a joke." she said quirkily, leaning towards me. "I will hit you." I say, sounding offended. "Oh I'm scared." she said, in a way that made me laugh. After a bit, Joel had found us a wooden crate pallet after we said we couldn't swim. "Hey, look, there's a ladder over there. We can use that." he points out, bringing the crate over to us. It was big enough for the both of us.

"Get on." Joel says. "Really?" Ellie protested. "Ellie." he says, "You two Enid." We don't argue and we get on the board. "Please be careful." Ellie said. "I got you guys." Joel replied, pushing the both of us to the other side. Ellie gets off first then turns around to help me onto the ledge. "Thanks." I say. "No problem." she nods, pushing the ladder down so Joel can get up. Once he did, he found us a way out.

We make it outside and the warm sun touched my skin. I take off the mask to breathe in some fresh air. It felt good to finally be out of there. Joel takes his mask off as well and sits on a piece of debris while bent over. Ellie was still feeling bad about Tess being killed back there. She still believed that it was her fault. "Hey, look. About Tess… We don't even know…" she starts only to be cut off by Joel.

"Here's how this is gonna play out." Joel starts, looking up at us, "You two don't bring up Tess. Ever. Matter of fact, let's keep our history to ourselves. Secondly, neither of ya'll say anything about your condition. And lastly, you two do exactly what I say when I say it. We clear?" he established. I break my gaze from him for a moment while biting my lip. "Sure. Fine." I say for both of us. "Repeat what I said." Joel urged.

Ellie and I look back at him. "What you say goes." Ellie exhales. "And don't tell anyone about Ellie's bite." I add. Joel then stands up with his back turned. I put my hands on my hips. "Now there's a town a few miles north of here. There's a fella there who owes me some favors. Good chance he can get us a car." he informs, pointing ahead. "Okay." Ellie nods. "Lead the way." I say. We move out to the north.


	6. Chapter 6 Bill's Town Pt 1

We walked for a good while; feeling like days honestly. During the walk, Ellie and I struck up a conversation. From what happened between the time I was gone to my monster movie antics. We didn't get too deep into conversation. She even told me how she tried getting a couple of water guns from Dictator Dickhead.

"So tell me, what did the mysterious Ellie get punished this time for doing that?" I ask, pushing her with my shoulder. She was super embarrassed by my question; it was true. "Do you really want to know? It's really embarrassing." she said, swallowing hard. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Psh, please. You know as well as I do that it cannot be as bad as what Dictator Dickhead had given to both of us combined." I scoff, getting her to laugh.

"Fuck yeah. Anyway, he put two weeks of scrubbing duty in the bathrooms in my repertoire." she answered. "Oh, Ellie. When will you learn?" I say in a sarcastic tone. "You think you're any better?" she says in an offended tone. "Hence why you got into trouble more than I did. I'm such an angel." I say, making her playfully shoves me. "Wow, you're such a smart ass." Ellie scoffs. "Well, it is the company that I do keep." I say. The two of us share a laugh.

A little while later, we arrive at what I can assume to be Joel's friends town. The sun was partly setting. "Wow…" Ellie breathed, looking away. "What?" Joel asked. "Oh. It's nothing. This is just new to us. That's all." I say, giving a pleasant sigh. "You mean the woods?" Joel wondered, starting to walk through the woods. "Yeah. We've never been to the woods. It's cool. You think so, Enid?" Ellie retorted. "Yeah. It's very pretty." I reply, walking next to her.

We fell silent and the only thing we were hearing is the bugs and birds chirping. I couldn't help but think of Marlene during the silence. I doubt I was the only one. "Why don't you just take us back to Marlene?" Ellie asked. "If she was up to the task, why'd she drop you two on us?" Joel wondered, still not thrilled with taking this job. "She might be better now. You never know." I reply, walking ahead of Ellie.

"Kids, I don't think your friends chances of survival were too high to begin with." Joel said. "She's a lot tougher than you think." Ellie says. "It don't matter. 'Cause right now I doubt I can get us to the city in one piece. Trust me. I wish there were some other option." Joel sighed. We all wish there was another way around this but sadly, there isn't.

We come up to an old rusted fence gate that was covered in foliage. Joel tried opening it but it was locked shut from all of that. "Well shit." he sighed. "Should we climb it?" Ellie asks. "Yeah, can't be too high." I agree, looking up at it. We can all just climb over it. "No. Wire's on top of it. We got to go around." Joel said, moving over to a fallen log. Just as he jumps over it, a swarm of fireflies surrounded Ellie and I.

I laugh and reach up to touch the glowing insect but they floated away from my hand. "Check this out." Ellie said. "Fireflies." I said, seeing Joel looking at us. "Um, they're real fireflies this time." Ellie said to him. "Yeah I see that." Joel said distantly. The glowing bugs fly from us. "Sorry, we lost ourselves for a moment." I say, looking back at Ellie. "Yeah. It was hella fun." she says, following close behind. It wasn't everyday that we saw those bugs.

We go to a small building. Ellie bends over to help me on top. "That you Bill?" Joel asks as I climb on the building. "Is this where you meet him usually?" I wonder, dusting my pants. There was a large stream of black smoke coming from the town. "No. I meet him in different places." he replies, crossing a wooden plank. Ellie and I follow him; hand in hand.

"You've never been here, have you?" Ellie asks, jumping to the ground. "I know he lives here but I've never been here personally." he said, jumping down to another area. "And do you think that smoke's him?" I question. "Sure as hell better be." he sighs. Ellie and I follow suit. Then, the sound of nearby clicking made us freeze up. "Shit." Joel said quietly. He crouched and managed to take out the clickers one at a time.

We go through a building and we go upstairs. Getting to a room, a sputtering sound made me look behind me. Turns out it was Ellie trying to whistle. She couldn't whistle before so why try it now? "Are you alright?" Joel asked. "I'm trying to learn how to whistle." Ellie said. "Oh good. I thought there was a dying cat." I tease, giving her a nudge. She pouts at this because she knows it's true. I've poke fun at that a lot when we were younger.

"Hey, I'm trying." she said, still pouting. "You know I'm just fucking with you." I laugh. She shoves me. "You'll never let that go will you? My attempts to whistle will only get worse if I'm not encouraged." she sarcastically says. "Oh that'll be earned." I joke. "Oh shut the fuck up." she rolled her eyes. After Joel gets stuff from the building, we leave and approach another gate. It was jammed shut.

"Shit, it's jammed shut from the other side." Joel tells us. I gaze up to see that one of us could get over that. "Here boost one of us up." Ellie says. "No that's not such a good idea." Joel replied. I scoff at his remark. "Well, you can't expect us to boost you up?" I say. After a moment, Joel gave in and walked to the gate, locking his fingers together so Ellie can get over it.

She places her foot in his hands. "Listen, just open it. Nothing else." Joel instructs. "Sure thing." Ellie says, making it over. When she does make it, she pulls a pipe out of the door. "Okay. Tada." she said, standing aside. "Good job." Joel said, walking by us. "I'd give that a 10/10." I say, giving her a high five. "Thank you kind pigeon." she said, accepting my high five. After that, we follow Joel into the town.

It was large, quiet, and quaint. "So let's say we get a car from this buddy of yours? Then what?" Ellie asked, breaking the silence. Joel stops and turns to us, "We go find Tommy." "Did Marlene say that he was your brother?" I ask. "Yeah. More importantly, he was a Firefly. He'd know where to take you two." Joel answered, walking down the street. Ellie and I follow, see how half of the town was blocked off by a shit ton of metal.

"Yeah, that's Bill's handiwork?" Joel said, looking at it. "Does anybody else live here?" Ellie asks. "It's only him as far as I know." Joel replied, going into a music store. The inside of the store amazed both Ellie and I. There were rows filled with tons of old music; the kind I liked. A smile stretched on my dirt stained cheeks as my blue eyes panned through the music records. Some were so faded out that I couldn't make out what they were.

I hold one album in my hands and inspect it. It was of four guys crossing a road in a city. Half of the picture was really faded out. "That looks like something you'd listen to. What is it?" Ellie asks, seeing the album I held. "I can't tell. But if only we had one of those music machines that you play these on." I reply, putting it back. We continue to browse.

After a while, the three of us left the music after Joel found some more supplies. We come to a corner and a single clicker comes out of nowhere and runs into a faint line that made it explode into a billion pieces. I almost had a heart attack and bump into Ellie. "Fucking hell!" I yell. "Whoa, nelly! Wha-What the hell was that?" Ellie asks. "That would be one of Bill's traps." Joel answers, walking by what's left of the clicker.

"Seems like he's paranoid as hell, huh?" I say, trying to catch my breath. "Now that's putting it lightly." Joel sighs, picking up a couple of arrows from the body of a runner. "So what's his deal?" Ellie asks, walking beside me. "He helped us smuggle stuff into the city. He knows how to find things." Joel answers. "Well, let's hope we don't end up like that clicker." I say. "Oh yeah. Blown up into bits." Ellie agreed. "Just watch your step. You two will be fine." Joel assured, climbing a ladder that leaned against against a truck.

My eyes see a few written threats on the walls. Based on the words, I bet he doesn't take well to strangers aka Ellie and I. "Holy shit. This guy is the new definition of paranoid." she said. "I'll say. Sounds like the assholes back at Boston." I reply, climbing up the ladder. Ellie follows and we see Joel holding a bow. That begged the question why Ellie and I couldn't get any weapons other than our knives.

"Let us use that. We're good shots with those." Ellie insisted. "Let's leave this kind of stuff to me." Joel suggested. I roll my eyes. "We can have each other's back." I say, crossing my arms. "I said no. That's that." he says, crossing a plank. Ellie and I just sigh in irritance but didn't say anything.

We climb a short ladder so we were on another rooftop. While Joel was finding us another way, Ellie pulls out her knife and wiped the blade on her jeans. "Don't you agree that we should have more weapons than just our knives?" I ask, standing by her. "Totally. You remember when we shot the soldiers with those?" she asks. I couldn't help but grin at that. There are many things that you remember vividly and sometimes vaguely. This is one of those times shortly before were separated.

"Fuck yeah. That was awesome. I totally remember. We got our asses handed to us afterwards." I reply, practically laughing. She puts her knife back in her pocket. "Well, even though we did, that didn't stop us in the future." she said, giving me a nudge. "Hell no it didn't." I agreed. We then follow Joel across the same plank and we saw that he took down another clicker.

He jumps down to the clicker to get his arrow. "Now you two listen, Bill ain't exactly the most stable of individuals." Joel says to us. _That's an understatement. _ "So when we get there, you two let me do the talking. Understand?" he warns. "Yeah." I say, shrugging my shoulders. "We understand." Ellie adds. We come to another ladder.

"Let's be clear on this. He's a good guy. All he needs is time to warm up to both of you since he's not used to strangers." Joel said, jumping the rest of the way down. "Okay." Ellie said. "Hearing that is comforting." I say sarcastically. Joel goes under another wire while telling Ellie and I to stay underneath them. We did so and straightaway we come to a gateway that had two of them strung to it.

Joel throughs a brick at it and it explodes on impact, getting Ellie and I to jump back. "Oh shit. Those things are kind of awesome. You think so, Enid?" Ellie said. "Not really. I'm gonna have a fuckin' heart attack." I say, sounding irritated. She liked it, but I didn't. We go through and come across another one.

"You two see that? Stay back." Joel said, aiming his pistol at it. Once he shot, we jolt back because of how loud it was. "I'm getting real tired of this." I say, giving a growl. Afterwards, Joel goes ahead of us and into another room. Suddenly, I hear a loud crash mixed with Joel's yells.

Ellie and I look at each other with wide eyed expressions before going into that room only to find Joel hanging upside down by his ankle. "Joel!" I cried, rushing to him. Ellie and I tried to keep him still. "What just happened?" Ellie asked. "It's another one of Bill's stupid traps!" Joel explains. I quickly look around to find the possible counterweight.

Luckily, it didn't take me long to find it. "Look, over there!" I shout, pulling Ellie by her arm. She nods and we run to it. "Cut the rope you two and it'll bring me down!" Joel calls. "Okay!" Ellie and I call back, climbing on top of the fridge and we start to cut the rope with our knives.

With the rope being thick, it was difficult to cut through. Then the growling sound of the infected were getting closer to us. "Shit! Here they come!" Joel said, pulling out his revolver. I started to cut faster. The runners made their way in here and they targeted Joel.

Before it grabbed him, he shoots it dead. "Joel!" Ellie shouts. "Just tend to the rope!" Joel shouts over the infected. I tighten my grip and sped up. "C'mon, damn it!" I curse, trying to cut. More came pouring in up to 3 at a time. Joel manages to kill most of them. I didn't realize that one of my feet were hanging off the edge of the fridge.

It wasn't until I felt a rough tug on my ankle. It pulled me away from the rope. "Agh!" I yell in panic, trying to hold on. I quickly look back to see one of the runners trying to bite me. "Hey! Let her go!" Ellie yells, reaching over to me. She grabs me by my jeans and she stabbed the fucker in the head before Joel finishes it off with a bullet.

I crawl up on the fridge again. "Are you okay?" Ellie and Joel asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, going back to cutting. "How's it lookin' you two?" Joel asks. "We're going as fast as we can." Ellie shouts back. My hands were starting to sweat which made it more difficult to cut.

I jump off the fridge while Ellie starts to pull on it in hopes of getting it to rip. "Anytime guys." Joel says, sounding like he's getting a headache. "Hold on!" Ellie says, still pulling on it. However, it ended up falling over and she fell with it. I run to her and come to her aid.

"Fuck!" she yelled, taking my hand. "You alright?" Joel calls. "Yeah!" Ellie says. "C'mon, you two can do it!" Joel says, getting ready for more infected. It didn't take long until a few more to come in. My stomach began to go in circles when one headed straight for us. "Ellie look out!" I shout. She turns and manages to avoid it.

It didn't process this and ended up tackling me to the ground. It tried to bite my neck but I was using both hands to hold it back. "Get the fuck off her!" Ellie yelled, rushing to me. She drives her knife into it's back and she pulls it off me. Joel then shoots it in the head.

Ellie helped me up and we go back to the rope. Once it was finally cut, Joel falls to the ground. "Joel watch out!" Ellie and I yell as a runner jumps on him. He held it off until a large man came in with a gas mask over his face. He uses a machete to kill the infected.

"Get up off your ass and on your feet!" the man said in a deep voice. Joel grabs his hand and hoists him up. We all run out of the area with Ellie holding onto my hand. The door slams shut from behind us. "Alright this way! Keep up!" that guy shouts, leading the way. There was a dead end.

"Oh fuck!" Ellie shouts, skidding across the ground as clickers and runners start crawling over the debris. "Which way?!" Joel asks, backing up. "Alright, we'll ah… cut through here!" the man says, changing direction. We follow him down the alleyway in a full sprint.

"Run Ellie and Enid!" Joel calls. "Guys behind us!" Ellie shouts. "They're coming!" I shout. Joel starts shooting at the oncoming infected while his friend fumbles for the keys. When it was finally open, we all bolt inside and Ellie shuts the door. The infected were pounding at the door with their loud growls.

"Don't slow down! This place ain't secure!" that man said. "Bill, they're coming through the door!" Joel yells. "Fuckin' knew it. Take 'em out. That's our only way out!" Bill tells Joel, taking out a clicker with his machete. They start to kill the infected with their melee weapons. While this was happening, I saw Ellie pinned up against the wall by a runner.

"Get the fuck off her!" I yell, stabbing the fucker in the back. Once I pulled it off, Joel uses his bat to kill it. When they were dead, we all make a run for it out of the building. "Go you two!" Joel shouts at Ellie and I. "We're going!" Ellie and I shout. We sprint through an open truck so that we ended up into another room that resembled a bar.

Joel and Bill held the door shut and Bill shut the door. Once it was all quiet, I hold myself up with my knees on my hands as I was catching my breath. "Holy shit, that was close…" I say, staggering a bit. Bill looks at Ellie and I and walks to us. "Yeah. Thanks for the heroics and all." Ellie says. Bill takes off his mask and gave Ellie and I looks of instant distrust.

"Ellie. And this is Enid." Ellie says, holding out her hand. Instead of saying anything, he roughly took both of us by our wrists. "Hey what are you-?!" Ellie shouts. "Hey, let us go! What are you doing?!" I yelled, trying to pull back. He then proceeds to handcuff us to a loose pipe.

We start to struggle to get free. "You got something sprouting out of your ass, huh?!" Bill yells, holding his gun to Joel's head. "No goddammit I'm clean!" Joel protests. Ellie then loosens the pup we were attached to and hits Bill on the arm. I, too, pick up a stray pipe on the floor and take a swing at him.

Needless to say, this wouldn't be the first time I beat someone up with a pipe. Ellie doesn't know about that. "Son of a bitch!" Bill yells, holding his arm. Joel quickly takes our pipes from our grasp. "Are you done?!" Joel asks. Bill looks at him with angered look. "Am I done? You come to my house, set off my traps," Bill then looks over to Ellie and I, "Who the fuck are these punk ass kids and why the fuck are they here?!"

"We are none of your goddamn business! And we're here because you owe Joel some favors!" Ellie argues. "And you can fucking start by taking these fucking things off, you asshole!" I shout, shaking the handcuffs that were on my wrists. "I owe Joel favors huh? Is this a joke?" Bill scoffs, turning away from us. Wanting to move this conversation along, Joel walks up to him

"Look, let's just cut to the chase. I need a car." Joel says. "Well, it is a joke after all! Joel needs a car. Well, if I had one, which I don't, what the hell makes you think that I'd give it to you?" Bill argues, sharpening his machete, "Sure, go ahead and take all of my food while you're at it."

"Tsh, by the looks of it, you could lose some of that food." Ellie says, using her quick wit. "Yeah, drop some of it." I agree, my arms crossed. This pissed Bill off and he quickly points his machete at us. "You listen to me you, punk ass little shits!" he yells. "No, fuck you! You handcuffed us-!" Ellie shouts, Joel pushing us back a bit. "I need you two to shut up." Joel says quietly. "But he started-" I say, pointing at Bill.

"Enid, I'm not playin'. I mean it." Joel says, cutting me off. Ellie and I roll our eyes and we back off. "What an asshole." Ellie whispered. I cross my arms and sigh. "I know. That was uncool that he did that." I whisper back to her. Joel was talking to Bill about the car as they looked at a map.

"Okay, if I'm going to do this, there's some gear I'm gonna need but it's on the other side of town." Bill states, pointing to a different place on the map, "If you can help me gather it, I can maybe put something together that runs. But I owe you nothing after this." He slams down a key that would unlock these damn handcuffs.

"That's fine. Couple days from now, we'll be dead anyway." Joel says, unlocking the handcuffs. "Good, follow me. Whole goddamn town is booby trapped. Best stay on my ass." Bill says, walking away from us.

"Can't miss it." Ellie smirks. "True that." I agree. "Knock it off." Joel tells us, pulling both of us by our arms. Bill's gonna help us with the car? A minute ago, he wanted nothing to do with it.


	7. Chapter 7 Bill's Town Pt 2

"Alright, whatever supplies you may want or need, grab them now." Bill says. "Alright, thank you. Ellie, Enid take a look around. See what we can use." Joel says, looking at us. "Alrighty." Ellie agreed. "You got it." I say. Ellie takes it my hand and we go into another room that was behind us. There was some supplies on the dressers, tables, and on the floor. I go to pick them up.

"Man, he's got a fucking stick up his ass." Ellie says. "Tsh, I know right? I saw this shit coming from a mile away." I reply, turning to face her. "Right. And him losing some of that food I said earlier, was true right?" she said, picking some boxed ammo up. "Oh yeah. You'd think he'd be willing to hand it over instead of keeping it for himself." I reply. We put the supplies in our backpacks.

"By the way, I saw how you swung at Bill. Where'd you learn that? I don't think you got that from my teachings." Ellie said, sounding impressed. "Let's just say that some assholes pissed me off and they got their karma." I reply, not ashamed of doing what I did. "Did you get in trouble for it?" she asks, cracking her knuckles. "You better believe I did. But those assholes got what they deserved." I reply, smiling confidently. She wraps her arm around my shoulders. "That's my girl." Ellie chuckles. "You know it." I say, walking out with her behind me. Joel was waiting by the door.

Once he sees us, he opens it for us. We walk through it and passed him. "Don't leave the door open." Bill calls from up the stairs. Joel says that he's got it and he shuts it behind him. "We have to go across town. Move it." Bill directed us. Ellie and I roll our eyes. "Just stay with me." Joel says to us. Joel walks up the stars with Ellie & I following close behind. While doing so, we can hear Bill starts to talk to himself.

Guaranteed Joel is used to this weird habit. I wasn't the only one who believed this fact as well. "You weren't kidding about him." Ellie says. "Yeah, he's one of a kind." Joel replies, going into another room to gather supplies. After a bit, Joel comes back to us and we move on. "So what trouble are you in? Where the hell's Tess?" Bill asks, leading the way. Of course, Joel can't tell him of Ellie's immunity. And he made us swear not to tell anyone about it. "Just a job; a simple drop off." Joel replies. "What are you delivering? Those brats?" Bill said, jumping over a window frame.

"Ha ha. Fuck you too." Ellie said for both of us. Bill then laughs sarcastically as we go down a flight of stairs. "I hope you know what you're doing." "Are you kidding with this guy?" I whisper, sounding irritated. Ellie leans in towards me and whispers, "I know right? This is so stupid." she agreed. "So where we goin' Bill?" Joel said. He didn't want to talk about either of Ellie and I, and Tess.

"My other safe house. More of an armory if you would." Bill boasted. "Wait, I thought we were gonna fix a car?" Ellie said in a confused tone. "Yeah. Isn't that why we came here?" I ask. However, our questions don't get answered. "We? You two know how to-" Bill starts but Joel stops him from finishing what he was going to say.

"Like I said, what I need is on the other side of town. It's filled with infected so I don't go on that side. So we're gonna need more guns." Bill informs. Hearing of more guns got me to look over to Ellie. She looks back at me with a subtle glint of excitement. Maybe with any luck, Joel will let us have a gun. If that fatass Bill is right about the infected being in the town, then we need one as well.

We all go down some more stairs. Then, we hear some struggling noises from another room. Joel was about to pull out his gun but Bill assures him that he was meaning to take care of that noise. "So you didn't answer my question about Tess. I thought you two were inseparable." Bill said. We walk into a room and see a runner stuck in one Bill's handmade traps.

He then takes his machete to cut the runners head off. Ellie and I just stare at this since both of us had seen much worse than this. At least Bill was putting these traps to good use. Bill then goes to a wooden door that would lead us outside.

We walk out onto a road that was loaded with broken cars. "So why can't you fix one of these cars?" Ellie asks, taking a look around. "Oh my god, you're a genius. The whole time I could've just dropped everything and fix one of these cars." Bill sarcastically said. "Alright, don't be a dick. She was asking, okay?" I say, crossing my arms. "The tires are rotted and the batteries are dead." he says. Ellie stands next to me. "Are you done?" Ellie replied. I stopped listening to them and looked at our surroundings.

Then, a loud snarling sound started up, interrupting our thinking. "Dammit." Joel said. "Infected!" Ellie & I yell, starting to run from the infected. The horde start sprinting toward us from all directions. Ellie did her best to stay with me while Joel and Bill started shooting at them with their guns.

Suddenly, I feel myself getting grabbed by a runner and it tried to bite me. Joel comes and used his pipe to knock it off of me. "Runner!" Bill shouts, seeing a runner coming up behind Joel. But he manages to kill it with his pipe. Bill manages to kill the rest of them.

"Alright, gotta check the barricades again. Neglect the simple shit and now you're paying for it." Bill says to himself, walking to a gate. "Just when I didn't think he'd get any weirder." I say, crossing my arms. "Yeah, he's talking to himself." Ellie said, sticking close to me. "Yeah. Bill?" Joel called. We go to that gate and Bill unlocks it.

"And up we go." Bill said, unlocking it. The four of us go through the gate. "You picked a hell of a place to hole up, didn't you?" Joel asked. "Well, as bad as those things are at least they're predictable. It's the normal people that scare me. You of all people should get that." Bill admits, locking the gate behind him. "What does that mean?" Ellie asked. "Yeah. I don't get it." I asked. How does someone get scared of normal people when he's alone in a single town?

"It don't mean anythin'." Joel mumbled, walking passed us. Bill follows after him up a flight of stairs. "You sure that gates gonna hold them?" Joel asked. "Well I'm the only one who's got a key in this damn town." Bill answered. We go up to a cellar and turns out that we were here. We go downstairs in the cellar.

"Alright, here we are. You two don't touch anything." Bill tells Ellie and I. I knew that that rule was gonna broken pretty quickly. Bill turns to a lantern and turns it on so that we'd have some light in here. "Let's gear up." Bill tells Joel. This would be Ellie and I's opportunity to get a gun. If Joel and Bill are getting a gun then Ellie and I should too.

I tug at Ellie's arm and the two of us try to go to the guns that were lying on the table. However, this didn't go unnoticed. "I don't think so." Joel said, stopping us. We give him a look of offense. "What? We need a gun." Ellie protested. He looks down at the two of us. "No you two don't." he said, still refusing. I look at the table for a second.

"But Joel, Ellie and I can handle ourselves." I argue, lowering my voice. "No. Stay here." Joel said, walking away. This was so unfair. Why do they get guns but not us? "Fine! We'll just wait around for you two to get us killed!" Ellie said in a pissed tone. "Yeah, this is so fucking unfair Joel." I say, throwing my hands up. I turned around to see that Ellie was going through Bill's shit. "What's in here?" she said. I joined her and started going through it as well.

"Hey! Didn't I tell you two not to touch anything?! Didn't you two hear me?!" Bill shouts at us. Ellie and I step away from the pile of papers. "We're just fixing your stupid pile!" Ellie said. He tells us to not touch it again, to which we give him the middle finger. "Fuck you." I say, sticking up both fingers. He shakes his head out of annoyance.

"Hey, Enid. Check this out." Ellie said in a lowered voice. Seeing that Joel and Bill were looking at something across the room, we took the opportunity to grab a couple of things. "What are we taking?" I ask. She picks up a couple of magazines and a tape. "Oh fuck yeah. Put it in my bag." I say, taking off my backpack. "If Bill's gonna be a dick, then I don't think he needs these anymore." Ellie said, putting them in my bag.

I get my bag back on before Joel and Bill came back. "I swear to god, if you two had taken anything-" Bill said as he walked by us. "Hey man, we don't need any of your shit." Ellie said, crossing her arms. "Yeah, so calm down." I say, rolling my eyes. When they walked by us completely, Ellie gave me a smirk that proved we were lying. I smirked back at her.

We follow Joel and Bill up a flight of stairs so we were in the upper level. Turned out that the basement was connected to a church. Neither Ellie or I knew what this place was for but we had heard of it a while back. "Wow." Ellie said. "Nice place you got here." Joel admitted. "It's pretty nice." I say, looking at the stained glass windows. "Well, if you got any confessions, this would be the place to say them." Bill replied sarcastically.

The four of us go up to an open window that would lead us outside. Bill jumped out with Joel behind him. "Ellie, Enid, c'mon." Joel said. We did so and Bill tells us we'd be getting a battery from a truck that was by a school. We jump off the slanted roof to a small graveyard.

Ellie and I jog up to a pile of burned infected. The smell of it was horrible and it made me gag. Ellie didn't favor it either; covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "You two don't need to see that." Joel said. "We've seen worse. Right, Enid?" Ellie replied, looking at me. "Yeah. A hell of a lot worse." I reply, giving a nod.

That wasn't far from the truth. We underwent a lot of shit and seen a lot of shit in the city. Half of it I don't want to mention. "Alright then." Joel said. We go to another gate that was already open. "Passed the gate, it's all new territory to me." Bill admits. If that was the case then there'd be infected ahead of us.

We carefully go through the gate & it didn't take long for us to hear the clickers ahead. "Hey, hey. Do you guys hear that?" Ellie asks. "Clickers." I whispered, crouching down. Joel pulls out his bow and arrow. He aims for an oncoming clicker and shoots it in the head. Picking it up, he shoots a second one in the head.

We move to another area where 3 more clickers were. Joel uses another handmade weapon presumably made by Bill. It was a tin can with nails sticking out of it. He throws it at the clickers and it causes them to blow into smithereens much to Ellie and I's surprise. "Holy shit." Ellie gasps. "Nice job." I say, keeping my voice low. Joel tries opening the next gate but it was locked also.

"Hold up. I've got a key for that gate." Bill said, unlocking the gate. We go into another alleyway. There were two more infected on a slope, hunched over. Joel stealthily took them out by strangling them. After that, we sneak around another clicker. "You weren't kidding about this place were ya?" Joel said quietly. We went through a gate and into a house.

It was big and it gave Joel the opportunity to gather some supplies while Ellie and I stay with Bill. Afterwards, we go under a fence that had a huge hole in it and it led us to a garden where a kids play set was there and it looked like it was ready to fall apart.

Just then, I see an oncoming runner from Joel's right and he didn't see it coming. "Joel, on your right!" I yell. He turns and quickly shoots it with his shotgun and it brought the attention of more infected in the area.

Bill shot more of the infected. When they were taken care of, Joel gathers more supplies. "If you guys give Enid and me guns, we could help you kill some of these fuckers." Ellie complained. "Yeah, it would've been fucking great." I add, sounding irritated. "Shut up. Just shut up." Bill whispered, his voice stern.

We go through a garden that looked too tall for its own good. There was an open garage where Joel got arrows and tools. Joel then goes to a white door and tried opening it. "Shit, it's jammed on the other side." Joel said, keeping his voice low. "What about going through here?" Ellie suggested, referring to a dog door. She could go through there to fix the door.

"What? The doggy door?" Bill asked. I roll my eyes and looked at him. "No, through the fucking ceiling." I say sarcastically. "Alright, Enid." Joel said, stopping a fight before it even started. Joel took the boards off the dog door. "Be very careful." he tells her. I decided to go with her.

"Of course. C'mon, Enid." Ellie replied, crawling through the dog door. "Right behind you." I whisper, crawling after her. She helps me out by taking my hand. Once I was out, I hear clicking from behind us. "Oh shit…" I gasped, seeing 3 clickers behind us. "What is it, Enid?" she asked. I answered by pointing at the clicker's behind us.

Silently, she takes a rope off the door and opened it. "There's more of those clicker things inside the house." she whispered to Joel. Joel comes out while crouched and he sees the clickers. "Careful." I whisper. The way the clickers just stood there and shook was scary as hell. Even the sounds just adds to the creepiness.

Joel makes a stealthy move by throwing a stray bottle to the other side of the yard, getting the clickers in the yard to move towards the bottle. Once distracted, the four of us start making our way through the house while remaining crouched. Another clicker was alone in a bedroom, making us move much slower. Thankfully, no one had a single scratch on them.

"Alright, let's go. On the RV and over. We should be clear." Bill said, climbing on an RV. Joel went up next. Then Ellie went and I went last. There was an old treehouse that we had to pass through in order to get to the next house. "Who the hell left this here?" Ellie asks, jumping down to the yard. "Do you got friends in this town or what?" I ask, jumping down with her. "No. But I have a hunch of who could've came here." Bill muttered, going in a house with sliding doors.

We follow him in the house and Joel immediately went upstairs to scavenge. Bill, I presume, went into the garage. "Enid, you think we should tell Joel how sorry we are for losing you know who?" Ellie asked, keeping her voice quiet so Bill doesn't hear. I rubbed the back of my damp neck and thought for a moment.

"Didn't he tell us not to bring her up again? I don't know about you but I'd rather not get my ass handed to me." I answer, feeling unsure. She gives me a slap on my shoulder. The slap wasn't intended to hurt. It was just a playful gesture. "Since when are you so obedient?" Ellie jokes, her arms crossed. "Like never. I'm not getting hooked on a leash like I'm an obedient puppy." I reply, my hands on my hips.

"Didn't think so. But, I guess we don't have much of a choice." Ellie replied, walking ahead. I nod and follow her into the garage. Joel came in there soon after he got through scavenging. "Gimme a hand." Bill said, grabbing on the garage door. Both him and Joel lifted it up so we could get out.

Of course, it made a loud sound. We hide behind a car that sat in front of the house because of infected being up front. "What'd I tell ya? There's that truck sticking out of the school over there." Bill says, peeking over to point us in the right direction. Joel starts moving forward with his bow and arrow.

Ellie and I quickly stay behind him. He holds up his bow and arrow; firing it at the infected. He made 4 good headshots which killed them instantly. We make it to the next part of the school yard.

Going passed many busses, we found another way to get to the school. But a hoard of infected ambush us. "Ellie, Enid, run!" Joel shouts, kicking a runner out of the way before shooting it in the head. "Oh they're coming from everywhere!" Ellie shouts. "C'mon!" I shout, going with her.

Ellie ends up getting ambushed by a runner, getting me to stab it in the back. I pull it off and Joel finishes it off with his melee weapon. After a bit, the infected were taken care off. "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. They got to be holed up someplace else." Bill said, putting up his machete.

"Let's not test our luck. How do we get in?" Joel asks. I look around and see a ladder sitting on top of a bus. "There's a ladder up there. Get me up there and I'll drop it to you." I suggest. "Enid-" Ellie starts, trying to stop me. "Hey, you've had your adventure. This one is mine." I reply. She doesn't argue and pats me on my shoulder.

Joel lifts me up by his fingers so that I could climb up on the bus. "Don't get killed up there." Bill said. "Thanks Bill." I say, rolling my eyes. I dropped the ladder down to them and they start climbing up one by one. "We're okay. We just need to get to the hood of the truck." Bill muttered to himself I presume.

We drop down to the school yard. "They're coming. Move it kids." Bill shouted. We run behind Bill as more infected start climbing over the fence. "They're climbing over the fence over here!" Ellie yelled. "It's not gonna hold!" I shout, seeing how much infected was coming. It was a lot of them.

"We need to get inside to get the battery!" Bill yells, going to a loose window. "Hurry!" I shout, seeing the infected bolt towards us. "I got it! Windows open! Hurry!" Bill shouts, getting inside first. Ellie then goes after him before pulling me inside.

Joel makes it in almost before a clicker jumps on his back. "Joel!" Ellie and I yell as he elbows the fucker in the face. Bill then kills the clicker by shooting it with his shotgun, causing blood to spurt everywhere. Ellie quickly shuts the window before anymore could get in. "That's not gonna hold." she said, backing up. "Bill make it fast!" Joel tells him, picking himself up off the ground.

The infected start pounding at the doors in an attempt to get in. "Grab this!" Joel tells Ellie and I as we push a large, heavy shelf in front of the door. I use as much force as I could to keep the infected out. "Please tell me you're done!" Joel exclaims, using his back to hold the doors shut.

Bill lifts the hood up and turns out it was empty. "What?!" Joel said, walking up to Bill. I was sliding against the floor in trying to keep it shut. "Guys!" Ellie yelled in panic. "Hurry!" I yell with her, struggling to keep it shut. "Bill where to?" Joel asks, "Bill where?!" "Anywhere but here." Bill says. Joel then grabs Ellie and I away from the door and we haul ass to the next room.

The four of us bolt into a corridor just as the infected bust through the outside doors. Joel and Ellie managed to shut the next set of doors before they could get in here. "Let's sneak out the back." Bill whispered to Joel, sounding as if he was panicking. A loud shuffling sound towards the end of this hallway proved that we weren't alone in here.

As I predicted, there was a group of runners and a couple of clickers walking around an open part of this hallway. Joel took the opportunity to throw a stray bottle towards another direction so we could get by them. With that, we sneak by them without alerting them. "Down the hall. I bet we can cut through those classrooms." Bill whispers, going into a classroom. Ellie and I knew we had to stay quiet while we go through this school. But we stuck by one another while following Joel and Bill.

"There's a way through. We just gotta get passed those guys." Bill says to Joel quietly. He was referring to more infected that had stumbled through the door. Joel used one of those nailbomb things and threw it to the infected and it blew them up to bits. "There's a path down this hallway." Joel says quietly yet quickly.

Down the corridor was another group of infected at the very end of the hallway. Joel used his bow and arrow to kill all of them. We make it to another doorway. Joel tried opening it but it wouldn't budge. "Help me open this." Joel says to Bill. Bill complies and helps Joel open the door. We all go inside and Bill quickly shuts the door with what was barricading the door.

Turns out we were in a school gym. "This isn't going to hold them for long." Bill said. Then, there was a loud banging sound coming from the end of this room, getting all of us to look at it. Was it a hunter? A runner maybe? What came through those doors was neither of those things.

A large infected bursts through the door. The fucker was huge and it towered over Ellie and I. Ellie and I back up in shock by the size of it. It was covered in fungus that looked like armor.

"What the fuck is that?!" Ellie asks. "It's a goddamn bloater!" Bill shouts. "A fucking what?" I shout in panic. It then threw a large amount of something at us. It caused us to scatter like ants. "Ellie, Enid, take cover!" Joel warned. Ellie ended grabbing my hand and we run as runners start pouring in.

A couple of runners were chasing Ellie and I but Bill shot both of them dead. The bloater roared loudly as it throws another ball at us and it exploded on contact. Bill and Joel shot it a shit ton of times with their shotguns before it was finally down along with the rest of the runners.

"Jeez, what was up with that big guy?" Ellie asks while panting. "Yeah… what the hell was that about?" I say, catching my breath. "He's been infected for a long time. They're called bloaters." Joel informs us, putting his shotgun up. I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and found it was damp.

"Bloater, okay got it." Ellie nods. "We'll keep that in check." I say, swallowing. "I hate to interrupt your biology lesson, but can we get the fuck out of here? Please?" Bill urgently. Frankly, none of us want to stay where more infected could come any minute. Joel walked over and locked his fingers together to boost him up.

"Let's go people." Joel said, helping Bill up with Ellie helping him unneeded. Can't say that we equally have our arguments about Bill's weight. Once he was up, he turns to help Ellie and I up.

"Joel behind ya!" Bill yelled, spotting three runners coming through a hole in the wall. Joel led the infected away from Bill, Ellie, and I. They came from every direction however he was able to shoot them with his shotgun.

"Oh, we fucking hate those things!" Ellie says for the both of us. We both hate the infected with every fiber of our being. Though I know she hates them more than I do. Bill then helps Joel up and we all jumped out of a window and onto a ledge. We jump down to the ground and immediately start to run.

There was a house up ahead of us and a ladder rested on the wooden fence. Bill was the first to climb it, then Ellie, then I, and lastly Joel. More infected was on our asses. Bill then uses a rake to knock over the ladder to make sure that the infected wouldn't get in. "Inside the house. Now." he warned. We all rush inside and Bill instantly shuts the door.

"So that worked out well." Ellie said. "Oh yeah. It totally didn't go wrong." I agreed. Joel glances at the two of us with a 'shut up' look on his face. Heeding this, I take Ellie by the hand. "Let's go check out this side of the house." I say, leading her away from Bill and Joel. "Right behind ya." she said, walking behind me.

Not too long after, we go into the garage and we each gave a triumphant grin at what was in here. It was a truck; the very thing that we needed to get to Tommy's. "Oh hell yeah." Ellie said with a chuckle, running up to it. "Wow… you think it still runs?" I wonder, looking at the truck. "Let's find out." Ellie replied, opening the drivers side door and sitting in the seat. I lean against the side of it and watched as she tried turning it on with a key.

"Might still be alive." she says, still trying to get it to run. "Joel oughta be pleased with what we found, yeah?" I say, crossing my arms. She looks at me with a crooked grin. "Fuck yeah. Don't know about the big guy though." she said in a whisper. I chuckle at that. Just then, Joel and Bill come in at the sound of the truck sputtering.

"Look what we found." Ellie said proudly, scooting back a bit. "Looks like there's juice in it." I add. Bill walks around to the front with Joel behind him. "That's my battery! Fuckin' asshole." he murmured to Joel irritated.

Bill then slams the hood shut and tells Ellie to get out of the truck harshly. "Get out." he spat. "Okay, geez." she said, standing next to me. She rests her right arm on my shoulder; which I didn't mind. Bill sits in the driver's seat and inspected the truck. "Well, the cells are alive but the batteries drained." he informed. "Meaning?" Joel wondered. "Meaning we push it, get it started and the alternator will charge the battery." Bill explains, getting out of the truck.

"Is that your guess?" Joel wondered, obviously doubting the idea. "Look, you wanted a plan B, this is as good as it gets." Bill replied. "What're you thinking?" Ellie asks. "Thinking you drive and we push." Joel said. "And me?" I asked. "You help Ellie." he tells me. With a nod, I go around and get in the passenger side while Ellie gets in the drivers side.

Joel went to find more supplies. I adjust myself in the seat and turn towards Ellie. "Have you ever driven before?" I ask. "Ah… a while back. Maybe a couple of months before I got my partner in crime back." she said, giving me a playful shove. "Hell yeah. Too bad I never learned how to drive." I reply, giving a pout. "And yet Joel sends you to help me." she teases me. "Oh shut the hell up." I reply, rolling my eyes.

After a bit, Joel returns with whatever supplies he has and comes up to the driver side window. "You two okay with this?" he asks. "Yeah, not a problem." Ellie replied, keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel. "You two are doing a good job. Figured you guys should know that." he admitted. "We won't let you down with this." I promised and Ellie agreed bluntly.

Joel moves back away from the car and heads to the back of the car. Bill opens up the garage. "Alright. Put her in first." he tells Ellie, going to join Joel. "Already done." she boasts. "Keep your foot on the clutch. When we get it rolling-" he starts only to get interrupted by Ellie. "I know how to pop a clutch!" she calls. I turn to look at Bill. He had this dumbfounded expression on his face; not expecting Ellie's expertise of driving a car.

"How the hell do-? Y'know what I don't care! You two don't fuck it up!" he argued. They begin to push the car. "Alright Ellie, get ready. Enid, keep your eyes open." Joel tells us. Coming to a slope, Ellie manages to turn the car in the direction we're going. We give each other a high five for the miniscule accomplishment.

"There we go." I grin. "We're getting somewhere." Ellie replied happily. Suddenly, a horde of infected started dashing out at Joel and Bill. "Guys, to your left!" I call. They kill the horde with success and start pushing the car again. "We gotta go faster!" Ellie said, trying to start the car. "Look, there's a hill up ahead. Hopefully the car will start if we get it over it." I point out. "Good watching, St. Enid." Ellie praised. "No problem, Captain Ellie." I retort.

There were more infected coming from the right side of the street. I warn Joel and Bill to which they start killing the infected. Suddenly, I feel a sharp pull on my shoulders. I yelp in reaction. At first, I started to fight the runner from biting me with as much strength as I could muster. Then, it catches Ellie's attention. "Enid!" she yells, jumping forward to stab it with her knife. I push it off of me as fast as it jumped on me. "You okay?" she asks with concern. "Yeah. Just shit my pants is all." I panted, my skin drained from color.

Joel and Bill push the car once more down another hill. Ellie turns the key once more and gets the car to finally run. "Yes!" we yell, giving each other a double high five. It felt so good to have a running car. Joel and Bill hop in the back and tells Ellie to floor it. She does so and we make a gap between the infected and us.

After a good hour or so, Bill tells us to stop. "Just keep her running, alright?" Joel tells us, to which we give him a thumbs up. I lean back against the seat with my eyes shut and exhale deeply. "You okay there, St. Enid?" Ellie asks me. I opened my eyes and looked at her. "Hmm? Oh yeah I'm fine. Just trying to catch my breath after this fucking insane day." I say with a grin. "I'm with you there. When was the last time we ever saw that many infected?" she tells me. "I don't remember. But it was hella insane." I chuckle. "Oh yeah it was. Luckily you had me there huh?" she smiles. I smile and let my head tilt towards her. "We had each other. We're too young to be food to those damn things." I say, to which we laugh.

Joel had returned and took the wheel. We were ready to get to Tommy's finally. Ellie and I jump in the back seat. Ellie leans against the right side window while I lean on her. Joel tells us to get some sleep for the time being.


	8. Chapter 8 Pittsburgh Pt 1

It has only been a few hours since our departure with Bill. Ellie and I had gotten some well needed rest on the way to Tommy's. I don't know about Ellie but I ended up getting caught in one of my recurring nightmares. I've had them since her and I were separated. Every one of them was the same…

To wake me up, I could hear the voices of Ellie and Joel echoing in my ears. I also felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. "Enid! Enid wake up." Ellie said in a slight panic. Opening my eyes, I jumped out of my skin.

"Enid, calm down! It's just us!" Ellie said, giving me a blunt look of concern. My whole body shook and my forehead was headed in sweat. "Holy shit… what the hell happened?" I ask, catching my breath. "You had a bad dream. Scared us shitless." Ellie answered, her hands sliding down my cold arms. I push myself up to sit up.

"Oh… sorry." I say. "It's not your fault, Enid." Joel said, sounding distant. Sounds like he had the same sort of dream I had when we all left Boston. Ellie even has bad dreams and told me countless times how much she hated them.

After a bit, we move on again. I had remained quiet for the next hour or two just thinking about that nightmare. Ellie didn't ask about it but I knew she wanted to. Then, she pulled out that comic that we found earlier. It was a futuristic story which we shared in common. It helped me forget about that dream.

We got so caught up in it that we failed to notice that it was raining outside. Suddenly, the comic comes to an abrupt end which pissed both of us off. "Oh really?!" I groan. "Man that's dumb!" Ellie says. Our reactions don't go unnoticed.

"Hey, what happened with sleeping?" Joel asked, looking at us from the rear view mirror. Ellie and I sat up as she held up the comic. "Okay, we know it doesn't look like it but this here is not a bad read." Ellie said, holding it up. "Yeah, it's pretty good but there's only one flaw. Right here." I say, pointing to said flaw. Joel looks behind him for a minute.

"To be continued. I hate cliffhangers." I mutter. "Yeah, it's pretty stupid." Ellie said, rolling her eyes. "Where did you two get that?" Joel questions. Ellie and I glanced at one another for a second; knowing we've been caught. "Back at Bill's. All of it was lying there." Ellie shrugged. "Who else but us would give it the attention it needs." I say, looking over Ellie's shoulder to see Joel shake his head in disbelief. "What else did you two grab?" he asks.

Ellie and I look at each other with impish grins. Moving back, I say, "Ellie, would you do the honors?" "With pleasure." she replies, picking up my bag that had the stuff in it. She pulls out the old cassette tape that was resting in the front pocket of my messenger bag. We figured Joel would like to have some music to drown out to.

"Here. Does this bring the nostalgia back? It was Enid's idea to get it." Ellie said, making an eye gesture towards me. He looked back with a grin as he saw the cassette. "Y'know that is before my time. But it's a winner though." he says, taking the cassette off her and putting it in the player. What comes out of it was an old country song.

Ellie rolled her eyes at it. She wasn't the biggest fan of this genre but I thought it was pretty good. "Well it's better than nothing." she says. I give her a shove. "C'mon, it's not that bad." I reply. She rolls her eyes again and digs through my bag again to get that other magazine. It was an odd yet interesting and it enticed the two of us.

"I'm sure your friend will be missing this tonight." Ellie said, opening it. The pages instantly made me blush lightly. "Wow, it's light on the reading but the pictures are… should I say very fucking interesting." I say, my eyes glued to the magazine. Joel had caught what we were looking at and it didn't bode well.

"Uh, Ellie, Enid, that's not for kids." Joel tells us. Ellie turns the magazine vertically so we could get a full view of the next picture. "Holy shit. Enid, do you see what I see?" Ellie asked me. "Oh yeah. Explain to us how he's able to walk around with that thing?" I laugh, seeing the guys full nude body. Ellie laughs along with me.

"Get rid of that!" he scolds, trying to get the magazine away from us. "Hold your horses. We want to see what all the fuss is about." Ellie replied, getting the magazine out of his reach. Giving a quick glance, we decided to fuck with Joel a little bit. I gave the page we were looking at a cringed expression as if we were looking at something vulgar.

"Why are these stuck together?" Ellie asked. "Yeah, it looks very weird." I add. Looking at Joel, I could tell he had no clue on how to answer that. The two of us couldn't hold back our laughter at his reaction.

"We're just fucking with you." Ellie laughed, rolling down the window. She then tosses the magazine outside. "Bye-bye dude!" she shouts. "See ya in another life!" I add before Ellie closes the window. Ellie then decides to take the passenger seat. I leaned on the compartment that was placed in between the driver and passenger seats; using my elbows to hold me up. Ellie fluttered her lips obviously looking bored. "You know what? This isn't that bad. You're right, Enid." she said, leaning over to turn the music up.

I smirk at her and give her a playful nudge. "I told you so." I say. "Hardy har." she replied while rolling her eyes. She didn't believe that this was the kind of music that I actually didn't mind and she knew that. "Why don't you two get some sleep, alright?" Joel suggested, looking at both of us. "Psh, I'm not even tired. Are you Enid?" Ellie scoffs. "Hell no." I reply, giving a scoff as well. And both of us believed that we weren't gonna fall asleep but we were both proven wrong.

In waking up, I found myself lying down on the backseat. I pushed my tired body upright so that I was sitting up. Blinking away the blurriness, I see we were in another city. "Oh no no no. Well perfect." Joel sighed. I take my place back in between the front seats again. There were cars blocking the road so we couldn't get through.

"Now what?" Ellie said through a yawn. "Yeah, what do we do now?" I add, looking at him. He looked back for a moment and looked ahead. "Screw it." he sighs, driving to the right. Ellie and I bidded our time gazing out the windows. There were buildings with broken windows and foliage growing on the sides of them.

Suddenly, the truck came to a halt, causing both Ellie and I to lurch forward. "Whoa, easy!" Ellie said. "What the hell?" I gasp, pushing myself back up to see why we had stopped. In front of us was a man holding his stomach as if he was hurt. "Please… help!" he called. Ellie adjusted herself in her seat. "Holy shit… are we gonna help him?" she asked.

"Put your seatbelts on, you two." Joel ordered, putting his own on. Without argument, I sit in the right seat and strap myself down. Ellie did the same. "But he's hurt Joel!" I cry, sitting up. "Oh he's no he ain't." Joel replied, flooring it. The car jolted forward and we started to move at top speed. The man ended up pulling out a pistol and he started to shoot at us. Other guys in the area that were hiding leaped out of their hiding places with melee weapons.

They threw bricks at us while we drove forward. Ellie's window ends up getting shattered. I block my face with both of my arms from the oncoming glass. Before I could look, the truck took a sharp turn, making me jerk to the left. All I heard was the sound of tires screeching loudly across the road and us crashing into a building. Whatever we hit next ended up knocking me unconscious.

The minute I woke up, my body immediately started to ache. I groaned and panted from the aching. "I'm okay. I'm okay… are you okay, Enid?" Ellie asks while breathing heavily. "Yeah, I'm good." I answer. "Then get out quick." Joel says. We all took off our seat belts so we could make our escape. The second we do, Ellie's door swings open and a strange man grabs her and starts pulling her out.

"Let go of me, you chickenshit!" Ellie shouted, fighting against the man's grip. Joel and I tried to grab ahold of her. I ended up losing my grip on her and felt myself getting grabbed too by my waist. "Get the fuck off of me!" I scream, trying everything in my power to escape from his iron grip. During this, I saw Ellie getting dragged off as well as Joel. "Ellie! Joel!" I cry out, kicking hard.

He tried everything he could to hold me still. "Stay still!" the man hisses in my ear. I end up biting down hard on the man's hand while letting out a growl. "OW! You little bitch!" he seethed, turning me around and slapping me across my face with the palm of his hand. I got knocked to the ground face first and he tried to hold me down with his body weight.

"Let go of me, you fuck!" I yelled, struggling against him. Suddenly, I heard the man yell in pain and was pulled off of me. I turned over while coughing to see who had saved me. It was Ellie; she had driven her switchblade in the man's shoulder. Joel then comes over to finish the job.

Ellie quickly runs to my aid and helps me to my feet. "Enid, you okay?" She asked me. "Yeah, you?" I retort in return. She nods in response. Joel comes over after killing the guy who had a hold of me. We all jogged to the damaged truck so we could get our bags. "You two catch your breaths. We're leaving." Joel said, grabbing our bags. I slip mine on over my shoulder and Ellie puts hers on. "Okay." Ellie said. I then see the figure of a man with a gun coming from behind a wall. "Watch out!" I yell, pointing behind him.

Joel quickly turns around and ducks the second the man started to shoot at us. We all hide behind an empty store shelf as more hunters start walking in. Ellie takes a hold of my hand and I felt just how sweaty it was. "This motherfucker's dangerous. He killed all of them." a hunter warned. "Shit. Spread out." a second replied. "Damn, this tourist got some scrap with him." a third one says, stepping on broken glass that laid on the floor.

Ellie and I were nervous as hell as Joel waited for one of them to come around the corner. The second he does, Joel takes him out with a bullet from his pistol. Another charges at him with a yell but Joel overpowers them by punching them in the face and he kills them by bashing their faces into a wall. Joel goes behind a counter with Ellie and I right behind him. "Where are you, motherfucker?" a hunter growled, walking around the room.

Ellie glances at me while picking up a brick. She wanted to hit him with it. I picked up an empty bottle tightly in my hand. Giving an impish smile, the two of us raise up and chuck the objects hard at the hunter while Ellie yelled, "Hey asshole!" The hunter stumbled back in pain, giving Joel enough time to finish him off by shooting him with his shotgun.

Once all of the fuckers were killed, we all stood to take a much needed breather. That was intense and nerve-wracking. "Alright, I think that is the last of them. You two okay?" Joel asked, reloading his gun. "Yeah. I guess so." Ellie answered. "Yeah I'm good too." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. My cheek was still throbbing from that hard slap to the face.

"Good. Because we need to get the hell out of here. Alright, you two know the drill. See if there is anything we use." Joel said, starting to look around. Ellie took my hand yet again and led me out of the store. "Let's go see if there is anything over there." She suggested. She was referring to an empty building that was across the street. I came to a stop and quickly realized that I never thanked Ellie for saving my ass.

"Hey Ellie." I say. She turned to look at me. "I never did properly thank you for saving my ass back there." I say with a smile. She comes over and throws her right arm over my shoulders. "No prob. No one lays their hands on my girl. Hell, you'd do the same for me and Joel." She replied. "Damn right. After all, who's the best trio this fucked up world could ask for?" I joke. "It's us!" She replied, fist bumping the air.

The two of us fist bump before walking out after gathering stray bullets from the drawers. We made it to about half way before Ellie noticed a potential way out. "Hey, maybe we can go through here." She said, referring to a closed garage door. "Well, I see you've got as much of a keen eye as I do." I say, hands on my hips. "Don't you know me by now?" She said during a laugh.

Joel hears what Ellie said and makes his way over to us. He squats down and lifts up the garage door. "Agh c'mon." He grunted, lifting it high enough for us to go under. "Alright, see if you guys can find anything to prop this up." Joel said, straining to hold it up. Both Ellie and I go underneath it.

It was dark in here so I couldn't see anything. "Uhh… there's some pretty gnarly stuff in here." Ellie comments. "Really? I can't see shit." I say, waiting for both of my eyes to adjust to the darkness. "Ellie! Enid!" Joel yelled, growing impatient. There wasn't anything here to hold it up with but there was a chain that held it up on the side of the door.

Ellie grabs a hold of the chain and starts to pull on it. "Need a hand?" I asked. "Yeah wouldn't hurt." She replied. I jogged up to the door and started to hold it up. "Okay go!" She said, Joel quickly gets under the door. When he let go, I would have been brought down to the floor if Ellie hadn't been holding it up.

"Alright. I got it. I got it. I got it." He said, Both Ellie and I let the door go and he shut it gently. I turned on my flashlight and felt my skin run cold at what was in front of us. "Look." Ellie said, covering her nose a bit. Joel looks at the disturbing scene before us.

In front of us was a strewn of decapitated dead bodies on tables with old blood stains. One was held up by a rope that came down from the ceiling, way past dead. "Were they cannibals?" I ask, feeling my stomach turn. "No. Fucking hunters. This could've happened to us." Joel answered. Ellie and I looked around the room.

"That's a lot of people that didn't make it." Ellie points out. "Yeah, they could've escaped." I say, feeling sorry for these people. "I knew I should have turned the damn truck around." Joel said, regretting his decision of ever coming to this city. "We lived." Ellie said. "Barely. C'mon let's get out of here." Joel sighed, going through a door that was to our left.

With a last look, we follow him. "How'd you know?" Ellie asks, going up a flight of stairs. "Know what?" Joel questioned. "That we'd get ambushed?" I ask, going up every second step. "I've been on both sides," he replies. Ellie and I glance at each other for a moment. Just by the looks on our faces alone, we both had the same thought. Joel had been like one of these guys before smuggling things.

"Did you ever kill any innocent people?" Ellie wondered, only to get a sigh from him. "We'll take that as a yes." I say, coming up to the top of the floor. We came to a room where there were rotting mattresses in it. "Guess this is where the assholes sleep." Ellie comments. "Don't you mean slept?" I say. "Ah right. They surely won't be using these again." Ellie replied, looking around with her flashlight.

Ellie and I waited for Joel in the hallway next to the exit door. He went to collect more supplies from another room that was at the end of the hall. After he was done, he came back over to us and opened the door to outside. We covered our faces with our hands because the sunlight burned us a bit.

We were met with a concrete wall that had graffiti written on it. In front of it was a large pile of decaying, burning corpses. Ellie and I approach it. The smell of it was disgusting and I covered my nose. "Oh, I don't think these guys were infected." Ellie commented. "Yeah, the hunters probably got to them." I reply, backing up a bit. These hunters seemed to kill anyone that comes into this city. It didn't matter who from the looks of it.

"It doesn't matter. Let's keep moving." Joel said, moving away from the sight. Ellie and I follow him up a flight of metal stairs. "Alright. The bridge. That's our way out." he told us. Ellie and I had gone ahead of him and we jumped down to the next level. "Hey, Ellie, Enid. Slow down. Wait for me." Joel said in a yell as he jumped down.

"What? We're right here." Ellie said, turning to face him. "How about you two let me go first. Keep your voices down." he demanded. "Okay." Ellie replied in a low man's voice. "Right behind you." I say in that same voice. Joel took the lead and jumped down through a gap in the metal fence that the hunters must've made.

I go after him and watch Ellie jump down. The second she does, the clear sound of whistling was coming from Ellie. Hearing it surprised both of us because she wasn't able to before. "I'm whistling! Isn't it cool, Enid?" Ellie said with delight. I began to whistle with her much to the annoyance of Joel.

"Oh great. Something else you two can drive me crazy with." Joel said sarcastically. "That's awesome." Ellie replied, trying out different tunes. "What did I tell you? Practice does make perfect." I tell her, giving her a nudge. "You showed me." She replied, nudging me back.

After a minute, the three of us walked down the grass filled road and we saw cars across the area. Most of them were left abandoned and in a line looking like they had crashed into one another. Then there was a loud gunshot in the air, getting all of us to become alert. "Joel?" I say. "What was that?" Ellie asked quickly. "I don't know. You two hide. Now." Joel demanded, crouching down behind a car. Ellie and I quickly hid with him.

We were completely out of the men's sight but we could hear a distinct conversation between them. "Where'd you learn to shoot?" a man asked, teasing his friend. "Man, screw you." the second guy replied. "There was a whole flock and yet you hit nothing." the first man said. "I'm about to hit you." the second guy argued. "Wow. You're really upset. If you want, I can give you a few lessons." the first guy offered. "Yeah, whatever."

The men jumped down from that bus and started walking down in our direction. Joel moves over to the closest car. Ellie grabs my hand and we follow suit. "Where the hell are those guys? They're supposed to be here." the second guy asked. "They're on the highway shift. Wouldn't be surprised if they found another batch of tourists." the first guy replied. "Place is a goldmine. Lucky bastards." the second guy complained. I could hear them getting closer but I knew they shouldn't be able to see us.

"See if you can find anything while we wait for them." the first guy said. They continue to walk past us. "Screw it. There is nothing here. Let's get the hell out of here and see what those assholes are up to." the second guy said. Their voices faded away as they walked on.

We stood up once the hunters were gone. "I think they're gone." Ellie said, "Don't those guys creep you out?". She walked ahead with me behind her. "Yeah. I got chills just thinking about them." I replied, rubbing my bare arms. We make it to the bus.

"Okay. We need to lighten up the mood. It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope, it's still stationary. Enid, I know you're with me on this." Ellie stated, pulling out a joke book. My eyes grew wide in excitement at seeing it because we both love a good pun. "What is that?" Joel said confused. "Why it is a joke book. The only one in existence!" I replied, looking in it, "Aw fuck you for not telling me that you had it. Ya know how much I love puns!". I tried to sound offended.

"I thought you knew. Now, would you care to join me for a few glorious puns?" She asks me. I bowed and said, "It would be my pleasure.". I walk over to her and we skim through some of the puns to find a good one. "Oh here's one. What did the Confederate soldiers use to eat off of? Cups. Dixie cups." Ellie said. I take a second look and cringe.

"Okay, let's be honest. That was a pretty lame one. Here's a better one, 'I walked in my sister's room and tripped on a bra. It was a booby trap." I say, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a laugh. Ellie laughed too and high fived me. "I believe that deserves at least 10 points." She praised me. While we were enjoying this, there was someone who wasn't however. Joel rolled his eyes in protest.

"A book fell on my head, I only have myself to blame.' Oh wait, I said it wrong. Hold on, let me read it again. 'A book fell on my head. I only have my shelf to blame." She read. None of us cracked a laugh because the misreading on it only killed it. "That ruined it." I tell her. "Yeah it did." she agreed. I looked at the book and found another.

"What's the leading cause of divorce in long-term marriages? A stalemate." I read. "That's awful." Joel scoffs. "You're awful." Ellie said. "Do you two understand what that means?" Joel asks. "Nope. Doesn't matter." Ellie replied. Of course I had to pick a joke where neither of us didn't understand it. "Alright we're done. For now." Ellie said, putting the book away. "Just wait until next time." I tell Joel, knowing this wouldn't be our only time reading puns.

We climbed over the bus to get to the next checkpoint. There were sandbags lining up against the walls. "That bridge looks pretty far." Ellie comments. "We'll get there." Joel said, jumping down to the ground. I took note of how dead and empty this checkpoint looked. "Doesn't it feel strange that this place is empty?" I ask, looking at Ellie. "Yeah, is it supposed to have soldiers?" she wondered. We all know that the Boston QZ was filled with armed soldiers so it was weird to see such an empty lot.

"This is what most zones look like meaning it has been abandoned for a while now." Joel explained, gathering more supplies. From my peripheral vision, I saw something written in graffiti on the right hand wall. "Hey Ellie. Look at this." I say, tugging her by her arm. She follows me and we approach the writing and read what it said.

"Give us our rations." Ellie reads. I was puzzled by this. Were there not enough to go around? Or maybe they had to kill one another just to get it? "Did these people ever get their food?" I ask, still looking at the writing. "Sometimes they ran out. Most times they kept it for themselves." Joel explained. "That never happened in Boston." Ellie said but we were proven wrong when Joel said that it happened all of the time.

We walked away from the writing and waited on Joel to get down with looting more of this area. "Have you ever seen someone so fucking desperate to get food?" Ellie asks me. "Oh fuck no. Seemed like everything was under control. But I guess it was more bat shit crazy than we thought." I answer, crossing my bare arms. "Man, that's fucking crazy." Ellie sighs. "Extremely." I reply. We've both had our fair share of fights before but fighting for food would be fucking awful. Especially if one is to kill for it.

**Sorry about the hold up on this story. I had other things in my personal life that went down and I had other stories I had to finish. Now I'm gonna focus on this one.**


	9. Chapter 9 Pittsburgh Pt 2

The three of us headed through a cage-like walkway that led us through to the next checkpoint. Just as we went through a rotating metal door, the sound of distinct talking caught our attention. There were more hunters in this area. "We hear hunters." Ellie said quietly. "Yeah, off over there." I told him, pointing to the right side where there was a tent like structure. It was definitely coming from over there.

"Yeah, I see them. Just keep it down until we get through this area, okay?" Joel said, keeping his voice to a whisper. He crouches down to the ground. Ellie and I follow behind him while crouched as well.

"I'm so fucking tired. We've been up all night chasing down a tourist." One groaned. "Oh you were part of that?I heard about it." Another replied. We crept behind an abandoned car quietly. "This one chick wouldn't stop fighting. I've never seen someone with that much fucking energy. It took us five fucking hours just to hunt her down." the first guy said. "Jesus. Sometimes you gotta earn your keep." his friend says. They keep up with their talk of this woman that they killed.

There was a set of oncoming footsteps heading in our direction. Joel moves backwards to get the jump on him. I take Ellie's hand and we move along with him. We didn't want to get into trouble for our own sake. The stray man turns a corner, giving Joel the opportunity to take him out by strangling him.

That drew the attention of more hunters. Ellie quickly raises up to throw a brick at an unsuspecting enemy while shouting, "Hey asshole!" It gave Joel a clear shot with his bow and arrow. The arrow went directly into the hunters neck, killing him instantly. Once he was down, we heard more coming from the inside of the building ahead.

Joel retrieves his rifle and reloads it. We hid outside and listened to what the other hunters were doing. There was the sound of shuffling feet and muffled yelling. It sounded like they knew that we were here and that two of their dudes just got taken out.

Joel jumps in through the window and instantly takes another guy out by driving a knife through the side of his neck. We all hide behind a metal desk. Another guy was coming and had yet to see that his friend was dead and bleeding out onto the floor. "Hey fuck face!" I yell, throwing a bottle with my good throwing arm. It hit him square in the face, making him stumble.

Joel uses his fist to punch the fucker in the nose before shoving his face into the corner of the wall, blood flying everywhere. "Nice shot." Ellie said in a quiet voice. "Thanks. You're a good shot as well." I reply, keeping my voice low.

Joel uses a bat to hit the guy across the face, killing him instantly. Once he was down, another guy started to shoot at us. From the sound of it, he had a rifle too. Joel shoots back with his rifle and shoots the man in the head, getting his head to blow into smithereens.

"Behind you!" Ellie warns. Joel turns around to see another hunter charging at him with a pipe but Joel quickly shoots the man dead with his hand gun. We then hide behind the next couple of bookcases as two more hunters arrive. Each individual footsteps they carried helped us figure out where they were walking.

"Where are you, motherfucker?" the man growled. From the small crack in between the book cases, I could see that the hunter was holding a pistol. He was holding it up as if he was ready to shoot at anything that moved in his eyesight. "Joel, he's got a pistol." I whisper to Joel.

The hunter slowly walks by the bookcases, pistol raised in his hands. Joel made his move by stealthily coming from behind him. He grabs the hunter by the neck, causing the man's gun to fire into the ceiling. "They're in here!" the man shouted, trying to fight back against Joel. However, Joel gets the upper hand and kills the man by snapping his neck.

"Holy shit." Ellie gasps. "That was insane." I utter, feeling my heart race inside of my chest. More men race into the area we were in; obviously to come to their dead friend's aid. Once seeing him dead, they started to search for us. Luckily for us, we managed to make it around them. We make it back outside on the side of the building.

There was a metal staircase scaling the side of the wall that led upstairs. We go up it and see a few more hunters. Most of them were downstairs, still searching for us. "Oh shit!" a man exclaims, immediately taking out his pistol. He starts to fire at us profusely.

"Holy shit." Ellie gasped. "That was insane." I say, feeling my heart race. More guys race in from upstairs at their friends call. The three of us made our way in a separate room that had two shelves and a desk inside of it.

Those fuckers started searching for us immediately after finding their friend dead on the floor. I had to stifle my breath because of how heavy it had gotten.

Joel throws two nail bombs over the windows to finish them off. It took a minute before both bombs detonated, tearing their bodies to shreds. That indicated that it had killed them instantly. We all stand up and sigh of relief.

"That was too damn close." Joel says to Ellie and I, wiping sweat from his forehead. Ellie and I walk out of the little room.

At this moment, both of us were reminded of a quote that the hero utters in that Savage Starlight comic. It was fitting because of the fight we went through just to get out of this. "To the edge of the universe and back. Endure and survive." I say, stretching my arms. "Excuse me?" Joel asked in confusion.

"Savage Starlight. That comic book Enid and I have been reading? It's what the hero says at the end of a big battle." Ellie tells him. He laughs at this.

"Enid, let's go upstairs. Surely Joel has to find more supplies. That'll give us time to poke around." Ellie says to me. "Fuck yeah. There's gotta be good shit up there." I agree, excitement dripping from my tongue. She takes me by my hand and we head upstairs by two flights of stairs.

The top floor looked to be an old library. Some shelves were on their sides with the books on the floor. Even grass started to grow from the floor. "Wow. You're right about the good shit being up here. Do you have any room in that messenger bag?" She asks, looking through the shelves. "Nope. This old thing is full. I don't suppose you have room in yours?" I ask, letting my hands rest against my hips backward so my thumbs touched my abdomen.

"Nope." she replied, standing back up. "Yeah I thought not. What's in there is taking up all of the room?" I ask, subtly eyeing her backpack. "Oh nothin' important." she replied, scoffing in the process. Knowing her, she was obviously lying. That only made me more curious. "Okay, I'll believe you for now. But I will get my hands on that precious bag of yours one day." I reply in a light raspy voice like that creature from that movie Lord of the Rings.

"Oh no you won't!" Ellie exclaimed playfully. She knew that I didn't have any real intent on snooping through her stuff. I have my self respect when it comes to our separate things we carry.

After our dispute of the possessions in our bags, we continue to browse some more around the library. A lot of the books in here were a combo of fiction and non-fiction. They sat up on the shelves collecting moss and dust from the years staying here.

Joel made his way up to the second floor after evidently gathering up supplies from the lower level. "Man, look at all of these books. I wish we had more room in our bags." Ellie said, admiring the collection of books. "Oh so you two are readers huh?" Joel asks us.

"Well, if there aren't any hunters or infected trying to kill us, then yeah we like reading all the time." I answer, browsing still. It's kinda sad we couldn't bring any books to take because Ellie and I both love to read. Even those old retro or sci fi books are the most interesting in our eyes. Oh well there's always a next time.

After that, we left the building through what I can assume to be the back door because it had led us to a back alley. We make it down the metal flight of stairs to the ground level. My eyes pan upwards to a street light and I see two skeletal remains of two soldiers being strung up by their necks. It's not the worst thing that Ellie and I have seen.

"Man, you gotta be crazy to string up soldiers." Ellie comments, looking at the decaying soldiers. "When people get desperate they'll do just about anything." Joel answers. "So the people who rose up, they're the ones we've been fighting?" I ask, just thinking of how crazy these motherfuckers are. Looks to me that they're so hellbent on putting a bullet through someone's skull without saying hello first.

We came to another set of metal stairs that had a tall drop. "Watch yourselves on these drops." Joel tells us, jumping down to the lower level. Ellie jumps down first then I go after her. The landing hurt my feet a bit but it went away a couple seconds later. We all hop over a road block to which Joel crouches down.

"Down. Down, down, down. There's more of them." He whispered, hiding behind a taxi. Ellie and I hide with him. There were two guys hoisting a plank that they used as a bridge. They go inside of the building next to them. Once they were out of sight, we all stood up. "Alright. I don't think they saw us." Joel said calmly.

"Whew. There's our bridge. We're a little closer. I think." Ellie says, scratching her head. "Yeah it does look much closer." I agree, looking at the bridge ahead. It wasn't as far now. Most likely we'll be able to make it by nightfall. Joel jogs ahead to the edge of the water and stood on a submerged car. The water was mossy and green so we couldn't see the bottom. So it was too deep for Ellie and I to go through.

"I can't make that jump." Joel says, seeing how far the distance was between the car and bus. "If you get Enid and I over there, we can move that plank." Ellie suggested. Joel wasted no time and jumped in the water. "Wait here!" He says as he swam off. Ellie then sat down with her legs crossed. I sit down too with my back leaning against hers.

"So who's gonna move that plank? I'm not sure if you have the muscles to lift it." Ellie teased. "I do so have muscles. Fuck you for saying that." I reply in a chuckle. "Hey, I'm just saying." Ellie shrugged. "Well your facts can shove its own fingers up its ass." I joke to which we both laugh at it. She really loves to tease me the way she does.

Then, there was the disrupting sound of tires screeching in the distance. I turned to look behind me with one knee up so I could prop my arm on it. The sound wasn't all that concerning. At least I hope not.

"What was that?" Ellie asked. "Sounds like a car getting taken out by hunters. You think so?" I wonder, thinking of a logical reason. "Yeah maybe. Or it could be something else." Ellie replied, slightly looking at me over her shoulder.

We see Joel swimming back to us, getting us to stand back up. "Get on. We're cutting through the hotel." He instructs, holding the raft up to the car. "You go first and help me up when he comes to get me." I tell Ellie. She nodded and jumped on the raft. Joel pulled her over to the bus and Ellie climbed on top of it.

He comes back for me. Once he met me, I jumped on the raft. He pulled me over to the bus. Ellie kneeled down and extended a hand to help me up. I grabbed it and she hoists me on the top of the bus. "Set that plank up like they did." Joel tells us.

Ellie starts to pick up the plank that was sitting on the bus. "Here, let me help you." I offer. "Alright, you get that end and I'll get this end." She tells me, pointing off to the right side. I nod and take a hold of the right side. I didn't realize how heavy it was until I picked it up.

We set it over the gap so Joel could get across. "Alright, now you just need to find a way up." Ellie tells him. The both of us walk across the plank to go into the building.

Turned out the building was one of those old coffee shops; which smelled horrible inside by the way. "Oh! This place stinks!" Ellie said, covering her nose. "It makes it hard to breathe." I say, gagging. "Yeah woods all rotten." Joel tells us, climbing on the bus. Judging by the smell, I think so. Never thought it'd make a place smell that badly.

"Did you go to coffee shops a lot?" Ellie asks, walking on the plank ahead of us. I followed behind her with my arms spread out and she did the same.

"Yep. All the time." He admitted. "Any particular drink you'd get?" I ask, wondering what he did happen to get before everything went to shit. "Just… Just coffee." Joel answered. I would've guessed that he got an espresso or some shit like that.

The three of us got to the entrance of the hotel, which was nothing more than a giant hole in the wall. "Do you guys think those hunters are gone?" Ellie asked, lowering her voice. "Hope so." I answer. "We're about to find out." Joel says quietly. He jumped down and lets us know that it was clear to come down.

We jump down to the floor and we're astonished by the fancy interior design of the lobby. "Whoa, how fancy is this place?" Ellie said in a chuckle. "I would definitely want to stay in a place like this if it was still running." I say, looking around the lobby. It looked as if only rich people would be able to afford to stay here.

We all walked in water that was ankle deep. It was a bit cold and it made our socks soggy. "Did you ever stay in a place like this before it all went to shit?" Ellie asked Joel, glancing at the painted ceiling.

"No, this is too rich for my blood." Joel answered. Ellie glanced up to the second story balcony that could lead us out of there. "I bet we can get up there." She said, pointing to it. "No, it's too high. Let's see what we can find." Joel instructs, starting to look around the lobby.

Looking around the grass and water filled area, I see a concierge desk in my peripheral vision, sparkling a silly idea in my head. "Hey Ellie." I say, tugging her arm. "What's up?" She replied, looking back at me. "What do you say you and I do a little role-playing over at that desk over there?" I ask in a playful way. This excited her and she agreed without thinking twice about it.

With that, we jog over to the concierge desk. I took the roll of the front desk person while Ellie played the customer. I pretended to type while Ellie came into my view. "Ah, hello. What can I do for you today?" I say, exaggerating my voice. "Oh I'll be checking in for one night and I'd like your finest suite please." She replied, cupping her hands together.

I put a finger to my lips for a second before pretending to type again. "Why you're in luck. We have an opening for a suite with an ocean view. Would you like to take your luggage to the second floor?" I ask, yet again exaggerating my voice. "Why yes, you can take my luggage upstairs." Ellie replied, pointing upwards. Joel comments on how weird we both are. We'll take that as a compliment.

I walk from behind the concierge desk while laughing. Ellie too laughs at our mere game. Pretty sure that won't be the last time we do that. We jog to where Joel was.

He was waiting for the two of us by a ladder he happened to find while Ellie and I were playing. "C'mon up." He tells us, climbing up the second floor. Ellie climbs the ladder before me.

Once up there, Joel goes up a flight of stairs that was thinning out in terms of walking space. We made it to another room that had an open window that led to a roof.

Joel jumped out first before Ellie and I followed suit. "Oh shit. Get down. Get down." Joel says in a hushed voice as he crouches. Ellie and I crouch with him and go to a window.

More hunters were inside. They were having a conversation between two of the hunters. "Wait, how many is that now?" One asks. "Five in a week. I'm not complaining." A second replied. What the hell were they counting? People to kill or infected?

"I bet you're not. Are we done here?" The first wondered. "We got another floor to check, man." The second responded. Joel made the decision to kill them after their conversation played out.

"Check what out? I hadn't seen a clicker in weeks." The first hunter replies. "It's because we're thorough. We're going to keep it like that. Let's wrap this up, alright?" The second hunter instructs, sounding like he was leaving the room.

Once the hunters started to spread out, it gave Joel the opportunity to jump over the window. Ellie and I jump over it as well. Joel stealthily follows the hunter after searching through a couple of drawers that held a few bullets and a rag. He then leaps up and strangles the hunter to death.

After killing him, we quietly make our way to the next room just as one of the hunters friends enters the room. "Holy shit." he says as he sees his friend dead on the floor.

Joel snuck behind the hunter that was checking out his friend. He took the hunter by surprise and strangled him to death. After that, we sneak in the hallway and hide behind a fallen dresser. Listening carefully, there were at least two more guys.

But we were spotted before Joel could take him out. The hunter ambushed us with a bat but Joel gains the upper hand but uses his own bat to beat the shit out of him until he was dead. Another hunter starts shooting at us to which Joel shit him in the head with his shotgun.

We then crawled up a metal staircase that led to another floor. More of those guys made themselves known to us. Joel pulled out his handgun to off more.

The minute Joel started to shoot at 2 hunters, they shot back feverishly. It drew more attention from other rooms on this floor. Even one guy that carried Molotovs ran in and started to throw those dangerously close.

I then hear the sound of Ellie getting grabbed from behind me. I brought out my knife and charge at the fucker that had a hold of her. "GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER!" I yell, using all the strength I could to drive the knife directly into his right eyeball.

Blood spewed out and he screamed in agony from the wound in his eye. He did let Ellie go; it gave the opportunity to go bat shit crazy on him.

I yank my knife out of his eye, causing blood to fly out. "You little bitch!" He growled, trying to get me.

I saw that he had dropped his gun as I stabbed him in his eye.

I quickly grab the pistol, which was loaded and angrily put at least 3 or four rounds into his skull. He instantly fell dead.

By this time, Joel had killed the rest of the fuckers. Once he did, it was quiet again. I was standing in the spot with a dead body in front of me. I was quivering because I realized that I had killed someone. I did it to protect Ellie. "Whoa, Enid. Are you okay?" Ellie asks me, walking up to me. I looked up at her and saw a worried yet shocked expression on her face.

With a gasp, I back away from the now dead body. I felt so sick. Sick to my stomach. I can't believe I just killed someone… Yes, I had to do it however it made me feel so sick.

"Holy shit." Joel said, seeing the dead guy on the floor with four bullet holes in his head and neck.

"Enid?" Ellie said my name. She walked up to me. Joel had shook his head before telling us to follow him. However, neither of us moved for a moment. I dropped the gun and heard it clatter onto the floor. "Do you want to talk about it?" Ellie asks, holding my arm gently. "No… not right now." I say, just wanting to move on and to get away from this mess.

"Okay, we'll talk later." she says to me. I take it from her hand and put it back in my back pocket. I wiped my forehead which was drenched in sweat from the adrenaline that was pumping through me. That was scary… I don't know why it was. I still felt sick to my stomach.

We walked in a room that had an open bathroom with a large hole in the wall. It had a double bed, a broken TV, and a wardrobe that still had clothes that people forgot about; probably when this whole apocalypse began.

I remain silent because I couldn't get the way I savagely killed that hunter out of my head. Being only 13, I never once killed no one. Ellie could tell that it was bothering me. She'd ask me later eventually.

As we walk into the bathroom, my stomach turns when my eyes lay on a couple of dead people in the tub, rotting in blood. The sight was fucking scary.

"Oh creepy." Ellie says, taking in the sight. "Looks like they took the easy way out." I commented, crossing my arms. "It ain't easy. For many it was better than letting an infected or a hunter do it for them. Trust me, it ain't easy." Joel says, walking out of the room.

Even though it was a chilling scene, I didn't look away from it for another minute. Ellie had to get me to follow by taking me by my hand. Joel had eventually found a flight of stairs that led us to a broken elevator. This was our only way out so we'd have to climb it.

As Joel was pushing the doors to the elevator open, I saw the look Ellie was giving me. I knew it very well. She'd help me forget about the guilt that weighed heavily on my shoulders. It wouldn't be the first time that she's helped me like this. I couldn't avoid talking about it.

"Let's see where this goes." Joel says, climbing to the top of the elevator. Ellie goes next and I come up last. Ellie closed the door so no one else could get in. "It's gonna be a tight fit but c'mon." Joel said, squeezing through a gap between a wall and metal that held up both elevators. At least that's what Ellie and I presume.

I hear Joel jump down onto the second elevator, making it heavily shake for a second. That made me a bit nervous but I brushed it off. Ellie and I squeeze through the gap and jump onto the elevator one at a time. It didn't shake as much because of the weight difference.

Joel locks his fingers together so he could boost both Ellie and I up to the next level. "Find me something to climb on." he tells us, boosting Ellie up first. Once she was up, I placed my right foot in his hands and he boosts me up. I reached up with both of my hands so Ellie could help me. She does so by grabbing onto my wrists and I hold on.

When I make it halfway, I suddenly feel the elevator give way from underneath my feet. I was dangling from the edge.

Ellie quickly pulled me up on the floor. "Are you okay?" She asks, helping me to my feet. "Yeah. Where's Joel?" I ask, looking behind me to see nothing but black below us. It was so dark that our flashlights didn't even shine bright enough for us to see.

"Joel?" Ellie calls, sounding a bit panicked. "Holy shit, are you okay?!" I call, cupping my hands around my mouth. "I'm alright! Are you guys okay?" Joel asks from the bottom. Relief washed over us when we heard him speak. He had survived that fall.

"No!" Ellie shouted, sounding angry. "You scared the shit out of us!" I yell, gazing down at the dark abyss below. Ellie suggested that her and I climb down to where he was but he told us to stay put but I knew that we wouldn't listen.

Ellie and I walk from the elevator shaft. We'd have to move to where Joel was. We walk down a couple of corridors and find ourselves faced with a staircase. The corridors we walked in had a couple of drawers along with some rotting clothes on the faded carpet.

"Hey Enid?" Ellie says, getting me to stop. "Are you sure you wanna talk about what happened with that guy back there?" Ellie asks me. I suck in a sharp breath and sit down on a step in the middle of the staircase. Ellie sits down with me.

I hung my head for a second before breathing in. "I was scared. Seeing you being attacked like that must've triggered something inside of me. I had to get him off of you. When I stabbed his fucking eyeball, it wasn't enough. So I slit his throat… he had to fucking…" I say, quivering a bit.

Ellie scoots closer to hug me gently. "You did what you had to. Don't feel bad about taking that fucker out. He had it coming." Ellie says, pulling back.

I wiped my face to get rid of some of the blood that was spotted on my face. "Yeah, I guess he did." I reply, feeling better. He would've done worse if I hadn't killed him.

"But you saved my life. Holy shit, you're a ninja!" She laughed, giving me a shove. "No I'm not. If I was, I would have cut his whole damn head off." I reply with a laugh.

"Oh stop! You are so badass! I never would have thought to do that." She said, punching my leg a couple of times. She was doing it to be playful. "I'm not the only one who is the badass here, okay?" I commented, raising my eyebrows.

"But not as much as you." She says, standing up. I push myself up to my feet. "Oh really? Because if I remember correctly, you gave a few assholes shiners and stabbed one in the knee with a fucking compass. Don't you remember?" I asked, hands on my hips.

She looked up at the ceiling as if to think. "Oh yeah, I remember. We sure as hell did our life of crime back before Boston." She replied, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

"Fuck yeah. I can tell that won't be the last time I fuck someone up like that guy back there." I reply, wrapping my arm around her waist. "Hell no it won't. I've never seen you go completely savage on someone. I hope to see that again. It was awesome." She says, starting to walk forward. I walk forward with her and laugh.

"Yeah I guess it was. Now that I think about it, it felt good." I say, feeling the feeling of guilt disappear. After a few minutes of walking, the thought of Joel suddenly came to our minds. We got so caught up in our conversation that neither of us even brought him up.

"You think Joel's okay?" I asked, looking at Ellie. "Yeah I think so. Surely he found a way up." Ellie replied, untangling her arm from my shoulders. We got down another flight of stairs; leading us to what I can only assume to be a kitchen area.

Just when we got in there, there was the sound of a struggle coming from the dining room. We instantly knew it was Joel and some other guy. "Oh shit! Joel!" Ellie cried, running through the doors to the dining room. I follow her instantly. Turns out that the fighting was a hunter trying to drown Joel in a thing of water.

Ellie quickly grabbed a gun that was laying in the water and shot the guy in the head, killing him instantly. I watched as she held the gun with both hands, smoke coming from the barrel. Joel raised up with a gasp and looked over at us.

"Man, I shot the hell out of that guy, huh?" Ellie asks, lowering the gun down to her right side. She had also become pale a little bit. "Hell yeah you did. That was so fucking cool." I replied, impressed with her quick hand. She sits down on a couch with her hand hung low.

I sat with her and saw how pale she had gotten. It was like when I killed that guy, saving her life. "You okay, Ellie?" I ask her. "I feel sick." She replied with a groan. Joel didn't show any concern; instead he took the gun from Ellie.

"Why didn't you guys hang back like I said?" He asked, putting the gun in his backpack. Ellie looks at me for a second. "Well, that guy was drowning you. So what other choice did we have? Aren't you glad that we didn't hang back?" I ask him, my arms on my legs.

"No, I'm glad I didn't get my head blown off by two goddamn kids." He laughed slightly. This made both Ellie and I shoot up out of our seats. How could he say that when Ellie's the one who saved him? She did what she had to and that was that.

"You know what, no. How about, hey Ellie and Enid, I know it's not easy but it was either me or him. Thanks for saving my ass." Ellie began, clearly offended by Joel's asshole remark. "Aren't you fucking grateful that we came when we did? You could've been dead! Would you rather be dead?" I question, my arms spread out a bit.

We had believed that he would thank us for our efforts. We also hoped our rant had gotten through to him but, no, it didn't. He just brushes it off like it was nothing. "We gotta keep moving." he says, going up a ladder that would take us up to the next level. Ellie and I were both left there; floored by what he just said.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing." I say in disbelief. "Neither can I. This is what we get after saving his ass? Wow." Ellie scoffs. All I did was shake my head and climb up the ladder to the upper floor.

We went through another room that had a white board and a few desks. I wonder what it was used for before everything went to shit?

"We need to get back out. Find that bridge." Joel said from another area, his voice echoing. "Just tell us where to go." Ellie said for the both of us. I didn't say anything because I was still pissed at Joel.

Ellie and I jump down broken stairs to the next area. There were elevators on this floor and bathrooms; which Joel was looting.

When that was done, we made our way to what looked like a party room. A set of chairs were stacked against a set of doors, possibly to keep the infected out.

"Whoa, look at this Enid." Ellie said. I glanced over to where she was looking. It was one of those backdrops with a picture of one of those beaches.

"Do you remember what we had planned if we got to one of these?" Ellie asked me, turning to look at me. "Oh that we'd…" I begin. "To go surfing in LA." We say in sync with a laugh. Joel dismissed our enthusiasm about the backdrop.

"That looks like a way out. Do you two see a way to get up there?" Joel says, talking about the doorway above us. "Nope." Ellie replied convincingly. "Not a clue." I say, my hands on my hips. I honestly didn't feel like dealing with Joel. Because of how he was back there, I just wanted to tune him out. I know that Ellie was just as bitter as me.

Without another word, we walked on a stage where a large, black piano was sitting. "Might be able to get through with this." He says, starting to push it across the stage floor.

He didn't get very far before stopping. It was too heavy for him evidently. "Hey, how about a hand you two?" He asks, catching Ellie and I staring into space.

"You sure you can trust us with that?" Ellie asked, giving him a taste of sass. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to fuck it up." I say sarcastically. It was safe to say that he wasn't thrilled of our snippy attitudes.

I pressed my back against the piano while Ellie put her shoulder against it. We start to push the piano while putting our weight into it. I gritted my teeth while pushing it.

We got the piano in the correct spot so we could make it up the balcony. "There, how's that?" Ellie asks Joel. But he ends up dismissing our efforts yet again. He didn't acknowledge just how much we had helped him.

He crawls on the piano and on top of the balcony. Ellie and I climbed up with him, still pissed at him. I couldn't believe he's just totally ignoring our efforts instead of thanking us. It's as if he doesn't want us doing anything to get us through.

We had to go through a set of double doors. Joel jumps over a window that leads outside and we hear him mutter the words, "Oh shit." That would mean more hunters are present. Ellie and I make it to the window that Joel jumped through and see him holding two rifles. He was also crouched down in a tree house like hut.

"C'mere. Keep your heads down." Joel tells us in a whisper. We do so and sit on our knees to keep out of sight. The wall to the hut was tall enough to keep us hidden. I look over the wall and see how many there were down there.

"Alright, I'm going to go down there to clear us a path." Joel tells us. Ellie and I glanced at him. "Wait, what about us?" I ask him. "You two stay here." He replied, keeping eye contact. "This is so stupid! We'd have more of a fucking chance if you'd let us help." Ellie scolds at him.

"I am." He tells us, looking at the rifles, "Now you two seem to know your way around a gun. Think you two can handle that?". He hands us each a rifle.

"Well, um, Ellie didn't we shoot guns like this before Boston?" I ask, holding my rifle. It was a bit heavy to hold up. "Oh yeah we did. But we shot at rats." She answered with a nod.

"Rats?" Joel questions. "With bbs." Ellie says. Joel nods at this. I vividly remember that Ellie and I would use the rats as target practice just a little bit before we were separated. "Well, it's the same basic concept. Lift them up." He instructs us. We hold them up correctly.

"Okay, you two are gonna want to lean into those stocks cause those are gonna kick a hell of a lot more than any BB gun." Joel instructs. "Okay." Ellie said. "Gotcha." I say, pushing my shoulder into the stock like he said.

"Pull the bolt back." He instructs. We both tug the bolts and a bullet falls out of the rifles. "Once you guys fire, get another round in there quick. Listen to me, both of you, if I get in trouble down there, you two make each shot count, yeah?" he instructs quietly.

"Don't worry. We got this." Ellie assured him. "Yeah, you can count on us." I add, looking at him. I hold my rifle a bit tightly against my shoulder. Ellie does the same. "And just so we're clear about back there, it was either him or me." Joel says before jumping down to the lower level.

Our hearts leapt when he said this. He truly was grateful that Ellie and I came to save him. "You're welcome." Ellie and I mumble in sync.


	10. Chapter 10 New Friends

"You ready to blast these fuckers up?" Ellie asks me, her finger on the trigger. "Ya think? Let's give these assholes a few extra holes." I reply, ready to shoot if necessary. We both look over the small wall and see a small group of hunters talking underneath a tall tree.

"Asshole should've known better. If you're stealing, you gotta make sure you can get away with it right?" the alleged leader asks, "I would've-" "They're dead! They're fucking dead!" another separate guy yells, running up to the small group. "The hell's he yapping about? Take a breath. Who's dead?" the leader asks him.

"The whole crew. The 76 look out guys. Some fuckin' tourist killed them. Killed all of them." the other guy said, out of breath. "Shit, have you talked to the boss?" the first guy asks. So he wasn't the leader then? It wouldn't make sense for the leader to be out in the open like that. Marlene, as we know, wasn't always out in the open being she's the leader of the Fireflies.

Joel had chucked a lit molotov at the small group before another word was uttered and they were all lit on fire. It didn't go unnoticed.

A couple of guys charge at Joel with melee weapons. However, Ellie and I take them down. I managed to shoot one of them in the neck while Ellie made a clear headshot.

"Nice shot." I say. "Ditto." Ellie replied. Joel runs into another building that looked like an old coffee shop with some guys right behind him. The two of us hear hand-on-hand combat between Joel and the hunters. Joel does win in the end by beating them to death. I took another shot at a single guy in the back and Ellie took a neck shot, killing him in the process.

Joel, as we know, was doing what he could to kill the hunters that were after him. Ellie and I make a few more shots in the heads of the next hunters. Soon enough, they were all dead finally. Joel tells Ellie and I to come down from the hut.

I stand up with my rifle gently in my hands and look down at the ground below. "Guess that's all of them." Ellie tells me, standing up too. "Yeah, I hope so too. Maybe this'll change Joel's mind about letting us use guns." I reply, jumping down from the hut. Ellie follows me and we walk towards Joel.

As we walk to Joel, I see that he has picked up two pistols from two dead guys. "How'd we do?" Ellie asks him. He takes the rifles off of us and sets them aside. Reloading the guns, he tells us, "How about something… a little more your size?" I look at him for a minute because he's trusting us with a gun in case something were to happen.

He starts to hand us each a pistol but retracts a bit. "It's for emergencies only." he instructs us. "Okay." Ellie said, taking a pistol. "Alright." I say, taking the other pistol. After inspecting it for a second, I put my pistol in my back pocket. Ellie does the same but in the back of her pants.

Now that we have guns, we can help Joel while making it to the bridge. Since we were the only ones left, it gave us the opportunity to loot the place. "Now the safety's on. Do you two know how to switch it off?" Joel asks us. "We do." Ellie replied, walking alongside me.

"Okay, you just… gotta respect those. This is not-" Joel said before I cut him off. "Joel, we'll be careful." I say to him. "Yeah don't worry." Ellie says, picking up a half bottle of alcohol.

"Looks like we proved him wrong, huh?" Ellie says with a smirk. "Oh yeah. He might've thought we'd be more panicked of having a gun of our own." I reply, picking up some stray bullets from another dead guy.

We walked to another shutter door that was our possible way out. "Hey, we can go through here." Ellie calls Joel. He soon came over to us.

Joel knelt down to open the shutter. When he gets it halfway, he says, "Alright do your thing, you two." Ellie crawls under the shutter with me behind her. It led us to another garage from the look of it. The door to the next room was, unsurprisingly, blocked off by furniture.

"I'll get the chain." Ellie tells me. "Okay." I reply and watch as she tries to get the chain to move. But it appeared to be stuck. "Agh, stupid chain's stuck." she groaned, letting go of the chain. I looked around and saw a trolley that was perfect to hold the door up.

"Hey, we can use this." I say, jogging to it. Ellie comes over to help me push it to the shutter. We get it under the door. It was a perfect fit. Once it is under, Joel sets the door down on it and climbs under it. "That's good thinkin'." he praises us, trying to keep the mood happy. He then loots the garage and finds some supplies.

Joel takes the trolley by it's handles. "Help me open this." he tells us. Ellie and I hold the door up. The weight of it was close to pulling us down with it because it was so heavy.

The second Joel got it out from under the shutter, Ellie and I dropped it. "Man, I was so close to losing my fingers on that one." I say, shaking my fingers. "Hey, you're not the only one." Ellie says, shaking her hands as well. We both hoped that that would be the last one that we have to hold up.

Joel takes the trolley over to the opening that I spotted and he jumps over it. He didn't even have to call Ellie and I because we were already by his side. He started to work on his weapons on a workbench that he had found.

He puts his backpack back on. We jumped over a table and we immediately heard someone shout, 'Run!' Joel instantly pushes Ellie and I down underneath the windows so whoever was out there didn't see us. We couldn't see what was going on but we did hear it.

There was the humming of a large truck along with a man and a woman getting shot down by it. "What do we do?" Ellie asks, starting to get up. "Nothing." Joel replied, pushing her back down. "But Joel, we have to-" I start but he cuts me off. "I said no." he replied, his voice more hushed. All it did was piss me off because of us pretty much standing by.

Two men jumped off the truck and shot the woman dead by shooting her in the head. The gunshot got both Ellie and I to jump. "Busy a couple of days, huh?" one asks. "Yeah, whatever man." the second replies, searching the woman's corpse.

Ellie and I look at each other for a brief moment. We didn't need to speak to show our fear; just the looks in our eyes was enough.

"Damn, no food. Old pair of shoes. They got nothin'. Let's get out of here." the second says, going back to that truck. After they left, we slowly stood back up. I looked out of the slightly boarded up window to see the remains of that couple. "Holy shit…" I say breathlessly, my hands starting to shake. "There wasn't anything we coulda done." Joel says. "We know it's just… oh man." Ellie says, her voice on edge.

Joel exits the room while Ellie and I hang back for a minute. "That was insane…" I say to Ellie. "Yeah it was… Did you see that dead guy on their truck?" she asks me. I looked at her and said, "No. No I didn't. Who the hell are these people?" I reply, not wanting to see the bodies anymore.

We exit the room and go up a few sets of stairs to where Joel was. As soon as we get into the upper floor, there was the sound of more hunters. "At least they killed that couple." one says. The three of us crouch down behind a wall so that they wouldn't see us.

"Now all we need to find is that pick up truck trio." another hunter says. They were definitely talking about us for sure and were on the hunt for us. "There better have an army in that truck. How the fuck did the wipe out the entire crew over there?" the first guy asks, coming around the corner with a shotgun.

Joel grabbed the guy by his neck and dragged him downstairs to strangle him. Once he was dead, Joel comes back up to take care of the other guy.

However, the guy had already seen him and took a shot at Joel. Joel shoots him in the head with his shotgun.

We go into an office. Joel checked out the drawers to find more supplies but didn't find anything. There was a large hole in the wall that led us outside and onto a car. We were in a new area.

We go around a corner only to hear the voices of more hunters. From the sounds of it, there were at least a few. Ellie stays close to me while Joel takes the lead to the building that had two of the hunters.

We had our pistols out just in case we needed them. We got to the top floor. Joel uses his bow and arrow to take those two out. It didn't go unnoticed.

"Joel!" I cry. "Behind you!" Ellie says, shooting the guy in the back. I shoot the guy in the leg.

Joel finished him off by shooting him in the head. More fast approaching footsteps were making their way up here. Luckily for us, we found another exit to escape from them.

Some were patrolling the street with guns in their hands. Joel stealthily kills 2 of them, leaving only two left. I put my gun away and took a breath of relief.

"Oh man, endure and survive." She says, having her arm on my shoulder. "Yep, endure and survive. We're the big hero of this battle." I swallow, standing straight up. "A hero and a half." She replied, giving me a low five.

"What? Oh right that comic book thing." Joel says, putting bandages on where he was shot. While he found more supplies, Ellie and I took the task of finding our next route.

"Enid, over there." Ellie says, grabbing my hand to lead me to a ladder. It was half way down. "Oh good call." I praise her.

Joel joins us after a few minutes of searching. He knelt down to boost one of us up to get the ladder down. "You take this one, Ellie." I say. "Okay." She replied, standing on Joel's shoulder.

She grabs ahold of the ladder with one hand and manage to pull it down. Ellie climbed up first. I follow her and Joel climbed up last.

We jog over the catwalk to get to the next area. It had a perfect view of the bridge and it was much closer now. "We're almost there." Joel says, looking at it. I sighed in relief because we could be there by tonight.

The three of us jumped down to the ground. Joel went to gather more supplies but was unable to find anything. "Let's go through the alley." He tells us. Ellie and I follow suit into the alley.

The rumbling of the damn truck made us become alert. "Agh, it's that fucking truck." Ellie groaned from my left side. I see the truck drive by us on the next street.

"Shit, it's on the next street." I say to them. We move as quietly as possible by a building that had a few hunters in it.

We listened on their conversation before Joel could take action on them. One was guessing on how many cans of bacon the other hunter had. Hearing that made my and Ellie's stomach growl. It had been a while since we last ate.

Ellie and I pulled out our pistols in case things go awry. Joel has gone ahead to take down a single guy with a shiv to the neck.

Afterwards, we sneak across the street without being spotted by that truck, which was sitting at the end of the street.

Another guy had already seen us coming from across the street. He started charging at us when we snuck inside the building. Joel had already shot the man dead.

Once he was dead, Joel, Ellie, and I had to quickly hide behind a counter because the truck started to shoot at us. "What the fuck are they shooting at us with?" Ellie asked over the loud gunfire. "Yeah, its fucking scary." I shout. "Some kind of military turret, stay down!" Joel tells us.

We kept behind cover as Joel shot down one of the on coming hunters . There was a window that we could escape through to avoid the bullets of the truck.

There was no way neither of us could face the truck head on. We bolt into the alleyway. A hunter comes charging at us. Luckily, he was alone so it was easy to kill him.

We managed to get a head start of the truck before the truck found us through a second gate. There was a set of stairs that led into a building. They wouldn't be able to find us in there.

We quickly run up those stairs before any hunters just so happen to show up. The whole time my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest.

I can't remember the last time I ever felt like this. "I think we lost them." Joel said in a low voice. There was a plank that was already set up across an opening that would help us get across to the next building.

We hop over an open window to get in an empty apartment. Ellie and I were both still on edge. Neither of us could barely relax. How can we when those hunters are doing what they can to kill us?

"Holy shit. I hope we really did lose that truck." I say, taking a deep breath. "You're not the only one." Ellie replied, out of breath as well. Joel went to search the bathroom.

After that, we exit the apartment and onto another ledge. I went after Joel and Ellie was the last.

The stairs was blocked off so we had no choice but to scale across the ledge to get to the next open window. Halfway across, the truck started driving by us. I swear I felt my heart stop the second I saw it.

"Oh shit." Ellie gasps. "Don't worry. They can't see us." Joel assured us as the truck drove off. "Thank God for that." I sigh in relief. Joel jumped through the window.

Not a second later, Ellie and I hear struggling from the apartment. Ellie and I looked at each other for a second before climbing inside to his aid.

There was a guy trying to strangle Joel. He was African American from what I could see. Ellie and I quickly attack with our knives to save Joel.

Ellie managed to get a cut on him before being shoved to the floor. I too fall to the floor, hitting my elbow in the process.

Ellie helps me to my feet. Joel started to punch the hell outta that guy. As he did this, Ellie and I see another kid who looked to be our age, aiming a gun at Joel.

"Joel, wait a minute." I say but was unable to get his attention. "Joel stop!" Ellie shouts at him. He does stop to look at Ellie and I.

"Look." Ellie tells him, pointing to the kid who wielded the pistol. The three of us slowly raise our hands in surrender. We all know that if someone has a gun pointed at said person, they'd be dead on the spot.

"Leave him alone." The boy threatened. Slowly I put my knife away. "Easy son." Joel says, "Take it easy.". He backs up cautiously so the boy wouldn't shoot.

"It's alright. They're not the bad guys. Lower the gun." The older guy says. The boy does so and lowers the gun.

"Man, you hit hard." The older guy groans, inspecting his injured arm. "Yeah, well I was trying to kill you." Joel replied. The guy stands up and brushes himself off.

"Yeah, I thought you were one of them too. Then I saw you two." The guy said, pointing at Ellie and I.

"If you haven't noticed, they don't keep kids around. Survival of the fittest." The guy said, going to the boy. "You're bleeding." He pointed out. The older guy took the gun from him before going to his backpack.

"It's nothing." The older guy assures him, taking a bandage out of the kids backpack. "I'm Henry. This is Sam. I think I caught your name's Joel?" Henry asked, putting the pistol in his back pocket.

"Ellie." Ellie introduced herself. "I'm Enid." I say to them, introducing myself as well. "How many are with you?" Joel asks Henry. Surely they couldn't have been the only ones out here like Joel, Ellie, and I.

"They're all dead." Sam said only to be scolded by Henry. "Hey, we don't know that. There was more of us. However, someone had the brilliant idea of going to search for supplies in the city. But those fuckers ambushed and scattered us. Now it's all about getting out of this shit hole." Henry explained, covering his whole cut with his bandage.

"How about we help each other?" Ellie suggested, stepping forward. Joel wasn't fond of that idea but beggars can be choosers. "Think about it, Joel. We'd be safer in numbers." I agree with Ellie.

It was the best plan we could come up with. "The girls are right. We could help each other out. There's a hideout that Sam and I have been staying. It'd be safer if we chat there." Henry says. Joel looks at Ellie and I for a second. "Alright take us there." He replied, agreeing with his idea.


	11. Chapter 11 Escape from Pittsburgh

"Follow me." Henry said, leading the way. Ellie and I approach Sam in a friendly way. "Sorry about the whole gun thing." Sam apologies, feeling slightly embarrassed about that confrontation.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Besides, Ellie and I would've done the same. Wouldn't we, Ellie?" I replied, looking at Ellie. She puts her arm around my shoulders. "Yeah we would. Wouldn't doubt it." Ellie agrees with me.

"Where are you from?" Ellie asks. "All the way from Hartford." Sam answers her. Hartford? Last I heard of that place it wasn't doing so good. At least that's what I heard from the military.

"Really? I did hear bad stuff is going on down there." Ellie replied. "Yeah, that's what the military was saying." I add, stretching both arms.

Sam nods at us.

"Yeah, you're right on the military. They abandoned the zone. It's why we left. Place probably looks like this by now." Sam tells us.

After a minute, we moved out into the hallway and started going downstairs. "We need to be careful. We're right next to one of their look out areas." Henry tells us in a low voice.

"Is it just you and your daughters?" Henry asks Joel. This surprised Ellie and me because we didn't exactly trade our relationships with them back there.

"Oh none of us are related." Ellie says. "Yeah, we're more like…" I replied. "I promised someone I'd look after them." Joel finished, referring to Marlene.

"Yeah I can appreciate that." Henry says with a chuckle. We make it to the next floor. Joel goes to a locked apartment and unlocks it with a shiv. He goes in to search for supplies.

The rest of us waited for him at the stairs that would lead to the bottom floor. "Ellie, Enid! Found another one of those comics you two have been reading." Joel shouts to Ellie and I.

"Oh, we'll read that later." Ellie said, a pang of excitement in her voice. "Another addition to our collection." I say, happy to have another comic.

"Hell yeah. I hope there won't be another cliffhanger like that last one." Ellie tells me. "There better not be or I'm gonna be so pissed." I reply, still irritated by that last cliffhanger of the last comic we read.

Joel joins us a few minutes later after he looted that apartment. We all then make our way to the bottom floor of the building. The sun illuminated into the hallway, giving it a slightly hot feeling.

There was a bike related yet slightly faded out old bike related poster hanging on the wall.

The next room we went into was an old toy store that went by the name of 'Choo Choo Toys.'. From the inside, it was honestly adorable to add to that appeal. I guess kids were fucking crazy over this stuff before the world had gone to shit.

The familiar rumbling of that damn truck made us become alert for a second. "Wait, wait. Everyone be quiet." Henry instructs, holding his hand up.

The rumbling grew louder and louder. "Get away from the windows." Henry says in a low voice. We all crouch down to stay out of the truck's sight.

Luckily, it didn't see us and it kept on driving. Once it was out of sight, we all stood back up. "They're gone. Man, that fucking truck. It's been holding us ever since we got to this damn- Sam, what're you doing?" Henry says, looking at his brother.

Ellie and I looked over at Sam. He was holding a toy robot in his hands. "Nothing." Sam replied. Henry saw the toy and was instantly irritated by Sam holding onto it.

"Get rid of it." Henry demanded. "My backpack is practically empty." Sam said. Henry then tells him to recite the rule that they abide by. "We only take what we have to." Sam sighed, throwing the toy on the ground.

I couldn't help but feel bad for Sam. Why couldn't he have something that wasn't supplies? A simple toy couldn't hurt none.

Ellie then taps my left shoulder. I look over at her. She does this simple head motion to the toy. I knew right away of what she meant.

The two of us go to the toy. When they had their backs turned, I picked the toy up and put it in Ellie's backpack. The two of us agreed to stay quiet about it. Until the right time comes.

For both of us, we saw how sad Sam was when Henry made him leave that toy robot behind. He truly wanted it. I guess to have it as a symbol of childhood innocence. Fuck, neither of us have got the slightest clue of how it was before the world went to shit.

All Ellie and I know is, it wasn't fair. Joel lets us have those comics. Henry was a completely different story. We can't help but feel bad for him.

Henry then leads us outside through a metal back door. I saw hunters in the area and we crouch behind some boxes. "Shit. Ellie, Enid, watch our backs." Joel says quietly. "Okay." Ellie said. "You got it." I whispered, pulling out my gun.

Ellie had her gun out as well, her finger on the trigger. Sam was behind Ellie and I because Henry instructed him too. For a minute, we all listened in on the conversation between two hunters.

"What'd you find?" One said. "Nothing. Looks like someone was up there, but they're long gone." The second replied. "Where are the others?" The first guy said, his voice on edge.

"They wanted to give it another once over. Make sure nothing miss anything." The second guy replied. "Alright. Keep your eyes open. I'll check out over here." The first guy replied.

Joel took out a shiv that he made a bit ago. He began to stalk the hunters. As Ellie and I were told, we stayed close to him in case something were to happen.

Joel took out the fuckers with his shiv, leaving them dead in a pool of blood on the ground. We all stood up in relief. "We did it. Not bad, old timer." Henry comments, jogging to a truck. Ellie and I put our guns up.

Following Henry, we climb up a truck to get to the next rooftop. Two more fuckers run out of the next open door and over a plank. One starts to shoot at us with his shotgun.

I raised up for a moment and shot the fucker in the stomach, causing him to fall over.

Ellie takes a shot on his arm, knocking the gun out of his hand. Joel then shoots the guys in the head, killing them both. Afterwards, we all walk across the plank one at a time. I was behind Ellie with both arms outstretched so I could keep my balance.

We go into the next building and Henry is waiting for us by a set of double doors. "Through this door." he says, unlocking the double doors. "You sure it's safe being that close to them?" Joel questioned him.

"I'm the only one with the key, man." Henry answered. "Where'd you get it?" Joel asks. "I killed one of them. He won't be missing it now." Henry replied, opening the doors. Ellie goes in first before me and Sam.

"So, how old are you guys?" Sam asks Ellie and I. I looked back at him when he asked this. "I'm fourteen and she's thirteen." she replies, pointing at me. "Yeah, I'm thirteen. What about you?" I say. Sam rubs the back of his neck in a nervous way. "Oh, I'm fourteen too." he replied.

"Oh, you're fourteen, huh?" Henry says, butting in. "I'm close." Sam said, a bit irritated. We walked through what looked like a call center that had those busted computers and scattered office chairs.

"Here we are." Henry says, standing by a door. Joel was looking around for any stray supplies. Ellie sat on a desk and swung her legs back and forth. I stand beside her with my hands on my hips.

When Joel was finished, Henry unlocked the door to the office room. It looked like the only clean room that any of us have ever seen thus far.

"Man, nice place you guys got here." I commented, looking around. "I agree with you, Enid. How long have you guys been holed up in here?" Ellie asks curiously.

"A few days." Sam replied, "We did manage to get some food though." The three of us sit down on a leather black couch. I sit on Ellie's right side and see Sam pull out a bag.

"What are those?" Ellie asks. "Blueberries. You guys want some?" Sam replies. My stomach growled with excitement because I love blueberries. "Are you kidding? I fucking love those." I say, feeling giddy. Ellie turned to look at me.

"Tell me, since when do you like blueberries? I don't remember ever eating them with ya." Ellie says, giving me a poke. "We did have them when we were little. Can't believe you, my best friend, would forget our blueberry moment." I reply, giving her a playful shove.

"Alright smart ass, I challenge you to see who can catch one with their mouth." She replied, taking a single blueberry. "You got it, chief. I'm so gonna beat you." I laugh, picking one up. She then tossed it in the air but it bounced off her nose.

"Ow." She says, rubbing it. "A blueberry hurt you?" Sam laughs. "Ooh, ya lose a point for that one." I laugh. "Okay then, you try it." Ellie dared me. I toss it like her but I too miss it. I even lean over in an attempt to catch it with my mouth. But I still missed it.

"Looks like we're both losers." Ellie says with a laugh. I agree jokingly. We ate up the blueberries while laughing. They were just as good as I remember them to be.

It has been about 5 years since Ellie and I have gotten a hold of these delicious little berries. Ellie had snatched them from the soldiers and we ate them on a rooftop to get away from the mayhem of the quarantine zone.

Joel and Henry have discussed our escape plan with us. We would leave tonight because the hunters at the gate would be nothing more than a skeleton group.

We'd be in the clear. Since the day was still young, Joel tells us to get as much rest as we can for the time being.

I had decided to get some sleep. But I knew it wouldn't last because of that same fucking nightmare. I was right. It was that same exact nightmare that I had before.

I start to whimper in fear while my body jerks around a bit. It didn't go unnoticed though. I feel Ellie shake my shoulders a bit as well as saying my name to get me to wake up.

"Enid, wake up." Ellie said to me. I let out a gasp and my eyes shot open. It took me a minute to gather my surroundings. I see Ellie sitting in front of me. "Oh, Ellie. What happened?" I ask, my head hurting.

I noticed that it was dark outside which meant that it was starting to become night. "You were having another bad dream. Are you okay?" She replied, giving me a worried look.

I look up at her for a second. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I reply, giving her a nod. "Are you sure?" She asks, not convinced. "Yeah, I'm sure." I say to her. She then gives me a hug. I don't hesitate to hug her back.

I always felt comforted whenever she hugged me. "Hey, Ellie, Enid. It's time to get a move on. Joel also needs to wake up." Henry informs us. Ellie takes me by my hand and we walk over to Henry and Sam.

We went over to Joel, who was asleep in a chair like I was. Ellie placed her hand on his shoulder to wake him up. Once he does, his eyes dart around the room for a moment.

"He says it's time to go." Ellie informs him. He nods and gets out of the chair. We make our way over to Henry and Sam.

"Now we're going to be moving fast, okay? So no matter what, you stick to me like glue." Henry tells Sam, his hands on his shoulders. "Like glue." Sam repeats implying that he got the message.

"Good, good." Henry says, patting Sam's shoulder. We walked over to them. "Alright, y'all ready?" Henry asked, looking at us. We all give him a single nod as a response.

And with that, we were all ready to get the hell out of here. I was ready to get the fuck out of this city and I knew Joel and Ellie were also done with this fucking city.

We were also fed up with being hunted down by that fucking truck with every turn we make. "Alright, stay close, okay?" Henry reminds Ellie, Sam, and I.

He switched on his flashlight and started to lead us out in the hallway. It became increasingly darker when we set foot in the hallway.

"You tried this before?" Joel asks as we walk down the stairs. "Uh yeah." Henry answered. He was obviously lying based on the tone in his voice.

"That's comforting." Joel mumbled. We make it in another room. First thing my eyes laid on was a model of what I can assume to be the bridge. It was sitting in the middle of the room.

It was in perfect condition compared to the city that had gone to shit.

We all make it to the bottom floor of this building. Henry carefully opens the door to the next room. He and Joel crouched down because there were more hunters up ahead. Joel and Henry went up ahead to take care of those hunters while Ellie, Sam, and I hung back.

Ellie and I had our guns out just in case we needed them. Luckily, we didn't have to use them because Henry and Joel had wiped out the guys in the area. When Henry gives the okay for us to come out of hiding, Ellie, Sam, and I jog out of the building. Joel and Henry were waiting for us next to a large metal gate.

"Henry, gimme a hand with this." Joel says. Henry helps Joel push the doors open. About halfway open, the five of us see the headlights of the damn truck appearing from our right. "Oh shit! Go, go!" Joel yelled over the loud rumbling of the truck.

Ellie, Sam, and I make it through first. Henry and Joel quickly slam the large doors behind us. Henry quickly locks the doors behind us. It's not gonna hold for long.

A single hunter made his appearance on top of a truck. He starts to call for his friends but Henry shoots and kills the man before he could give our position away. We jog over to that truck, which had part of a ladder attached to it.

"Alright, check it out." Joel quickly says, locking his fingers together to boost us up. He gets Henry up first. Henry uses what's left of that ladder to pull himself up all the way. "We're good. Sam, let's go." Henry says, leaning down to hoist Sam up. I hear the hunters trying to break the doors down with the truck, causing my heart to race.

Sam was already up on the truck. "Hurry, hurry!" Joel exclaimed in slight panic. We only had a matter of minutes before that door gave in.

Joel boosts Ellie up next with my help. Halfway up, the ladder gives way. My heart jumped in my throat when that happened. "Ellie!" Joel and I shout, worrying for her safety.

Henry quickly pulls her up by grabbing her arm, causing the ladder to fall off completely. "Move out of the way! We gotta fucking ram it!" A hunter exclaimed.

"Okay, we got to get them up." Ellie said, looking down at Joel and I. Henry looked side to side in panic, like he was running out of options on what to do. "Ah, I'm sorry. We're leaving." Henry said, starting to pull Sam away from us. "What?!" Sam exclaimed.

Joel, Ellie, and I were floored by this direction. He was leaving us here. "This is bullshit!" Ellie exclaimed, sounding panicked. Henry then dashes off of the truck while dragging Sam behind him.

"What the fuck, Henry?!" I shouted in anger. Several gunshots rang out, bringing us back to the reality of our situation. Ellie then jumped back down from the top of the truck.

"We stick together." She tells Joel and I. "Fuck yeah." I reply. Unlike Henry and Sam, she was loyal enough to not amscray on the people she cares about.

The 3 of us quickly run to a shutter door. Joel quickly lifts it up just as that truck broke through the gate.

Ellie and I go inside first. As we did last time, she held the chain while I held the heavy ass door up. "C'mon!" We shout over the loud rumbling of the truck as it gets closer to us.

Joel dives in and quickly shuts the door behind us. Bullets hit the door but they all ricocheted off of the metal loudly. "Oh fuck." I swallow. "How the fuck do we get out of here?" Ellie said through panicked breaths.

I could see the panic in her eyes. She was feeling just as panicky as me. After picking a few things up, we go into a pub that was similar to the one back in Boston.

"The hell's going on?" A hunter asks. We all crouch behind a the bar with our guns out. "Sounds like they came through here. Spread out. They might come through here." A second hunter replied.

The second hunter comes around the bar and immediately spots us. Joel uses his melee weapon, which was a bat with nails sticking out of it, and hit the hunter so hard that his brains splattered everywhere.

We get behind a pool table. The other hunters start shooting at us. One of them had a shotgun. I raised up and shot one in the neck and chest, killing him instantly.

Ellie took a few shots at another guy, getting him in the chest all 3 times. Another guy charged at us with a bat but Joel blows the guy's head off with his shotgun.

We killed the rest easily by shooting them, stabbing them, and Joel beating the hell out of them. We jog over to a chained door and Joel pries it open.

"Alright, let's go underneath." Joel says to us. Ellie and I squeeze through the door before Joel did. The bridge was only a few feet away from us.

Then, the truck broke through another gate. We all made a run for it as fast as we could. The truck started to shoot at us with rapid fire. My heart was beating a million miles an hour from how scared I felt.

We dodge many cars and obstacles. When making it to the bridge, we were shocked to see that there was a huge gap in the middle of the bridge, leaving the other side inaccessible.

"Oh fuck!" Ellie and I shout. "How many bullets do you two have?" Joel asks, sounding panicked. "Joel, they're going to kill us!" I cry, knowing we were no match for that truck.

"What other choice do we have?" Joel argued. "We jump." Ellie suggests, pointing to the water below us. "No, it's too high and you two can't swim. I'll boost you two up and you two run past 'em." Joel declined.

The truck then smashed into one of the cars, sending it in the water below. "You'll keep us afloat." Ellie says. "Yeah, grab onto us." I add, seeing it was our only way out. Joel was still trying to find a different route.

"No time to argue." Ellie said, grabbing my hand. "Let's get out of here!" I cry. We then leaped off of the bridge with Joel behind us. I see the water getting closer and closer to us as we fell into it.

The current was too strong for any of us to swim through. I coughed and gasped for air as the water pulled us. "Joel! Enid!" Ellie cried from my right.

Joel grabbed us and wrapped his arms around us. We then slam into a boulder, making me black out instantly.


	12. Chapter 12 Sewers

"Wake up… please wake up." Ellie's voice said in great worry. Her voice was garbled in my ears. As I came to, I feel the entirety of my body ache and my head was throbbing profusely. I could feel it through my temples.

I force my eyes open. Everything was blurry and I made out with Ellie crouched over me. "Ellie?" I groan, blinking to clear my eyes. "Oh thank God." She sighed in relief. She helped me sit up and I gritted my teeth from my body aching.

"What happened? Where are we?" I ask, trying to make sense of where we were. It was some sort of beach. Ellie stayed beside me to make sure that I was okay.

"We saved you three from the river." Henry says. I look to my right and see Henry and Sam standing a foot from us. I was perplexed and a little pissed at seeing them.

"Where the hell did you guys come from?" I ask, standing up with Ellie. My legs were still wobbly, making Ellie to help me keep my balance.

"We had made it here shortly before you three turned up." Henry answered. I then remember that Joel had saved Ellie and I from going under the water.

Then, we hear a tired groan from behind me. I turned around to see a tired Joel starting to wake up. Ellie and I crouched in front of him as he opened his eyes.

"Henry, he's awake!" Sam shouts to his brother. "Hey, you." Ellie said softly. "We made it. We're alive." I say, still groggy from waking up myself.

We help Joel up as Henry walks over to us. "See? What'd I tell you, huh? He's good. Sam's the one who spotted you three. You guys had taken a lot of water when-" Henry starts.

Joel stormed over to Henry in a pissed off manner. He then pushed Henry down to the sandy ground with great force. "What the fuck's wrong with you?!" Henry exclaimed.

This caught all of us by complete surprise because we didn't think he'd react that way. Joel gets his pistol out and aims it at Henry, his finger on the trigger.

"Henry!" Sam shouts, trying to disarm Joel. "Get back, son!" Joel shouts, ready to shoot Henry. We were shocked by Joel's aggressive reaction to seeing Henry and Sam again. "He's pissed but he won't do anything." Henry said, pointing at Joel.

"You sure about that?" Joel scowled, keeping the pistol aimed at Henry. "Stop!" Sam yelled. I take a step forward towards Joel. Ellie puts a hand on his shoulder. "Joel?" she says. "Take it easy, now." I say, raising my hands a little.

"Did you two forget that he left us to die out there?" Joel reminds us. "No, there was a chance of you making it, and you got it. But if we came back, it would put him at risk." Henry says, pointing at Sam, "Stay back."

"Would you come back if it was the other way around? I saved you." Henry says, his voice more civil. I look at Joel and say, "He's telling the truth, Joel. He saved Ellie and me too." "Yeah, we would've drowned otherwise." Ellie confronts him.

Joel waits a minute before throwing the gun on the sand and looking away from the brothers. Sam kneels down next to his brother. "I'm fine. I'm okay." Henry assured before standing back up.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad we spotted you guys. The radio tower's on the other side of the cliff. It's full of supplies; you'll be happy you didn't kill me." Henry says with a grin.

"We're gonna look over here; see what we come up with." Henry calls out, running ahead with Sam. "That was intense. You cool?" Ellie asks, slowing her pace a bit. I noticed that she had a subtle look of distress on her dirty face. Something was troubling her.

"Yeah. Let's go find that radio tower." Joel grunts, hopping over a fallen log. "I'm good, yeah." I say, feeling my hands trembling. There was a lone, abandoned boat sitting on the beach. Ellie suggested that we should check it out.

Henry tells us to keep our eyes open and Joel replies to him in a low whisper. Before I could get on the boat, I felt Ellie grab my shoulder as if to pull me back. I look over my shoulder to look at her.

"Ellie, what is it?" I ask her, a bit worried. She then pulls me into a tight embrace, her arms wrapped around my waist. This caught me off guard.

"Don't ever scare me like that again… I thought you were dead." she says to me, her voice breaking. I waited a second before hugging her back to comfort her. "I'm sorry. Wasn't my intention…" I reply to her.

We break the hug and she holds my shoulders. "You're forgiven this time. But next time, you won't be." she replied, partly joking. I snickered at that, "Okay, okay. Truce." I push her hands off of my shoulders.

She smiled and socked my shoulder with a laugh. "Now that's settled, how about we take a boat ride?" Ellie suggested, her eyes drifting to the boat for a second. "Hell yeah. Lead the way, Captain Ellie." I say with a two finger salute.

The two of us jump on the slanted boat. "Whoa." we both say, running to the adjacent side of the boat. "What?" Joel asks from under the boat.

"It's our first time on a boat." Ellie says for the both of us. "Well, it's a bit different on the water." Joel tells us with a chuckle. "Let's take it a step at a time." I say, looking over the boat with my hands on the decaying walls.

The three of us jump down from the boat and go to another area of the beach. But it was a dead end. "For a minute there, we thought you were gonna shoot him." Ellie said, referring to Henry. "Almost did." Joel admits, picking up some stray ammo.

"I think they're alright. They should be good to have around." I say, feeling optimistic about the brothers. "Yeah, you may be right." Joel replied, sounding just as confident as me. The three of us make our way back over to where Henry and Sam were.

I glanced over at the decaying boat and started to think how it had been used back then. Joel had to have been on one based on what he said about it earlier. "Did everyone have a boat like this back then?" I ask curiously.

"I had a 60 ft yacht." Joel says. "Really?" Ellie says in surprise. "No." Joel replied. "Sarcasm at it's finest." I murmur. "Yep, and still making progress." Ellie agreed, walking at my side.

We see Sam standing on some rocks as he waits for us to come back. "Hey Ellie, Enid! I think we found something!" he called. "Let's go see what it is." Ellie says. We climb up on the rocks to catch up with the brothers. Henry waited for us by a sewer entrance.

"Hey, I think this goes all the way through." Henry says. He and Joel grab the metal bars and lift it up as high as they could get it so we could go through. "Alright, c'mon, kids, go." Joel says, straining.

Ellie, I, and Sam walk through and enter the dark sewers. Ellie and I turned on our flashlights so we could see. Joel shuts the door behind us before catching up with us.

"Sam, stay-" Henry started but was cut off by Sam. "Stay close. I know." Sam finished. "Someone's finally learning." Henry replied. As we walk down the sewers, we come across two different paths.

"Great. Which way now?" I ask, unsure of where to go. "Let's go see what's over here." Ellie says, taking my hand. Joel, Ellie, and I walk down the right path while Henry and Sam go down the left path.

"I'm not a fan of this place." Ellie says, looking around. "You and me both. It smells bad in here." I add, not fond of the stench of this place. We come across a gated area with a blocked door.

"If you can get it open, I can crawl through and get it open. Or do you wanna do it this time, Enid?" Ellie asks me. "Nah. I think you got it." I decline. "Alright, your loss then." she joked.

Joel pulled off the cover and a large rat ran out, startling Ellie and I. "Oh yeesh! That's a huge rat!" Ellie gasped. She then gets on her hands and knees and crawls to the other side.

Once she was on the other side, she pulled the crate from the door and opened it for Joel and I. "And… voila." she says, stepping aside. "I'll give you another 10 for that one." I say, giving her a high five. "Thank you." she replied, returning the high five.

Joel goes to pick up some things from the shelf. "Do you think they'll join us all the way to Tommy's?" Ellie asks him. "Yeah, I think it'd be good." I agree. "Don't know. Let's just see how everything pans out." Joel replies.

After that, we go find Sam and Henry. They were waiting for us by a doorway. "Hey, this way! Looks like there's a path up ahead." Henry called as he ran ahead.

There was a dead end with water in front of us. It was too deep for Ellie, I, and Sam to walk through. "Can we get out this way?" Sam asks. "There's no way to reach that." Henry replies.

"Well, I can't swim." Sam tells us as Joel jumps in the water. "That makes 3 of us." Ellie says for her and I. Henry tried turning a wheel on the wall but it wouldn't budge.

Joel goes underwater to get the door loose. Once he resurfaces about a minute later, he tells Henry to give it another shot. Henry turns it again and this time it works.

A gate raised up so Joel could go on the other side. We hear him move something before hitting water again. He comes back a few minutes later with one of those raft things again.

"Oh, this thing again." Ellie says, stepping forward. "Ellie, should I go or you? Looks like that can be operated by one person." I say, looking at a generator across from us. "I think we should both go. It'll save us time, yeah?" she replied, looking at me.

I waited a moment in thought before responding. She was right; we'd save a lot more time getting both me and her across. "Yeah. You're right. Let's go." I say, not arguing with her.

"You go first." Ellie tells me. "Okay." I nod, jumping onto the raft. Joel brings me over to the generator and I climb onto the ledge.

Joel then goes back for Ellie. He brought her over to where I was and I helped her up with my right hand. "Alright, let's see if this thing's got juice left over." I say, walking to the generator.

"Here goes nothin'." she says, pulling on a cord to turn it on. The generator sparked on and a platform that Henry and Sam were on started to move. "Alright!" Ellie said with a smile. "You did it!" I say, giving her a double high five to which she returns it.

Once Sam and Henry make it over, they jump onto the ledge where Ellie and I were. Henry then helps Joel up by pulling him out of the water. "I gotta say, I'm impressed with you three." Henry said in a chuckle.

"Psshhh, we're pros at this by now, ain't that right, Enid?" Ellie jokes. "Oh, hell yeah. We sure are. No doubt about it." I agree, cracking a smile. Henry looked amused at this.

The five of us continue down the pathway in front of us. We then come across a set of double doors with a castle painted on it. "Uh… what's up with this?" Ellie asks in confusion. "Yeah, it looks really weird." I add, raising an eyebrow at the painted doors.

"Could there be people inside?" Sam asked. "Maybe." Joel replied, cautiously walking up to the door. "Are we going in there?" Ellie asked. Joel said that we didn't have a choice since there was no other way around.

Joel pushes the door open and a basket of empty bottles drop onto the floor, causing a loud crashing sound. "Oh shit." Joel says, backing away. "What the hell was that?" I ask, startled by the sudden sound.

"It's a sound trap." Joel replied. "A what?" Ellie asked, confused. "A sort of alarm." Joel says. "I don't hear anything. Do you, Enid?" Ellie says, glancing at me. "No, I don't. It's really quiet." I say, only hearing the trap swinging back and forth.

We go inside the next room and I see a white board with faint writing scribbled on it, 'HOUSE RULES.' Someone had lived down here but they were long gone now. "Oh, awesome. Hey, Enid, up for a game?" Ellie says, grabbing my attention.

I see that she's holding a white ball in her hands, sparking my interest. It reminded me of when we were little kids back in one of the QZ zones. We'd kick around a ball playing one-on-one. It was such a fun memory I have with her.

"You got it, chief. We still haven't finished our last game. Remember, I was so kicking your ass at it." I say, stepping closer to her. "No you weren't. I was kicking YOUR ass. And maybe I'll do it again." she teased, poking my shoulder. "Oh, we'll see about that." I say, giving a competitive expression.

Sam and I stand in a makeshift goal. I was prepared to catch it. Ellie then kicks it and Sam catches it with both hands. "Whoa, nice catch." I praise. "Thanks. Here. You have a go." Sam says, tossing me the ball.

"Prepare to eat my dust, Ellie." I taunt playfully. "In your dreams, Enid." she chuckled. I use my right foot to kick the ball as hard as I could towards Ellie. She catched it, knocking her back a little bit.

"Now, how's that for a kick?" I say proudly with my hands on my hips. "Very funny, wise ass." she laughed. "Henry, did you see that?" Sam said enthusiastically. "Let's keep it down, buddy." Henry dismissively said.

Ellie and I see the look of disappointment on Sam's face. We couldn't help but feel sorry for him like before with the robot toy. All he asks is for a little bit of fun so you don't go fucking insane in this world.

We move on and walk down another corridor. Eventually we come across another gated door. Then, distant moaning and growling from more infected caught our attention; getting Ellie and I to pull out our guns out of instinct.

"Do you guys hear that?" I ask, feeling on edge. "It's more infected." Ellie says, staying close to me. "Shh… Quiet." Joel tells us quietly. He carefully opens the gated door with his gun drawn.

The second we go through, runners and clickers charge at us. "There's more heading our way!" Ellie cried as she shot down a runner. I ended up shooting two of the runners before they could attack us.

One runner had caught me off guard and grabbed me. "Gnh! Agh! Help!" I yell, trying to push the fucker away from me as it slashed at me. Ellie comes to my rescue by stabbing it in the head.

Soon, all of the infected were dead. "Well, I guess we know what happened to these people." Ellie comments. "I hope there's no more." I say, putting my gun away.

From what I could see in the doorway, I could see at least 3 bodies covered by a large blanket. Two of them were kids younger than Ellie, I, and Sam. I choked up a bit and felt a single tear run down my face.

"Enid? Are you okay?" Ellie asked, noticing that tear on my face. She had a look of concern on her face. "Oh… I'm okay." I say, feeling another tear run down my face.

She looks inside the room and pulls me away from it so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore. "Let's not look at that anymore, okay?" she said, knowing that's what was bothering me. "Okay." I reply, wiping my face.

We all go down more stairs. It led to another dead end. However, there was a ladder above us.

"You guys think that leads out?" Ellie asks, looking up. "Yeah, you guys can give one of us a boost up." I suggest, looking at the ladder. "No, it's too high." Henry says.

I aimlessly walk away from them. Suddenly, I hear a loud crash from a barrel fall down, getting me to quickly turn around. A large door dropped down, cutting Joel, Sam, and I off from Ellie and Henry.

"Sam!" Henry shouts, running to the gate. I too run to the gate and look through it. "Ellie, are you okay?" I ask, feeling my heart pound.

She walks up to the gate. "Yeah, are you?" she asked, sounding a bit panicked. "Almost had a fucking heart attack but… I'm good otherwise." I reply, feeling relieved.

"That was me. I must've triggered some kind of safety gate or something." Joel admitted. He then asks Henry to help him lift the door. Ellie looks at Sam and I through the gate holes.

"So… this is awkward." she says to us with a crooked grin. "Pssh, I'll say." I agree, my hands on my hips. "Yeah, I know, it's like every time-" Sam started.

Suddenly, Ellie's head jerked to the right and her eyes widened in fear. "Clickers!" she cried, a loud clicking sound produced in the distance. Immediate panic took over me. I grasp onto the bars tightly.

"Ellie no!" I yell, wanting to be on the other side with her. "Enid-" Ellie said in panic. "This isn't budging, man." Henry says in panic.

"Just go. Get out of here." Joel urged, waving him away. "Sam, stay close to them." Henry told his brother. "Henry, we gotta fucking move!" Ellie cried in fear.

The clicking noises grew louder and louder. Ellie glanced at me for a second. She and Henry take off running as a horde of clickers start chasing them. Joel kept Sam and I quiet so we wouldn't be spotted.

The whole time, my stomach rose in fear as I didn't see Ellie in sight. Once it grew quiet, Joel grabbed my attention away from the door. "Enid, c'mon. We need to go." he whispered.

I crouch down and follow Joel. I pulled out my pistol. All the while, Ellie stayed on my mind. "Alright, c'mon you two. See if we can find a way out of here, yeah?" Joel whispered, picking up some ammo and alcohol.

"Right behind you." I whisper. He hands me some ammo for my pistol and I didn't waste a second to get it reloaded. Then, we hear more infected close by us.

I stick close to Joel as we go around a corner. At least 3 clickers stumbled by, one of them was coming in our direction. The closer this fucker got, the faster my heart raced in my chest.

Joel shoots the fucker with his bow and arrow, making a headshot. Once it fell dead, I picked up the little ammo it had. We quietly move through the dark corridors and hear runners moving around.

Then, we hear a stalker charging at us with a loud growl. Instantly, I turn and kill it with 3 shots. It drew the attention of the rest of them.

Joel had shot some with his shotgun, blasting their heads off. He also used a machete he found by stabbing it through their abdomens. I stabbed a couple of runners in the eye when they tried to grab me, Sam, and Joel.

Soon, we had killed all of them. My heart was pounding hard in my chest from all the chaos. We looted the place of it's supplies before moving.

Afterwards, we go in a room that had a little kids carpet and empty cribs with toys in it. I felt sadness overwhelm me for a minute. This room had to have belonged to those little kids that I saw earlier.

Joel sees a ladder on another level that could be pulled down. "Let's move it." Joel said, locking his fingers together to boost us up. "Sam, you go first. I'm right behind you." I say. Sam nodded and stepped on Joel's hands.

After Sam is up, I step into Joel's hands and he pushes me up. Sam grabbed my hand and pulled me up. We then knocked down the ladder so Joel could climb up.

We go down a corridor and I hear a familiar voice. "Fucking thing!" Ellie shouted along with a gunshot. My heart dropped in relief when I heard her voice.

"Is that Ellie?" Sam asked. "It is her! Joel, it's them!" I cry, jumping down a ledge. Joel and Sam follow me.

"Sam!" Henry yelled, coming around the corner with Ellie behind him. "Oh thank god." Ellie said, gun in her hand. She instantly grabs my hand and we take off in a sprint. More infected was on our asses.

"We gotta keep moving!" she yells as the infected got closer to us. We make it to another room and Joel quickly shuts the door behind us. The infected started to bang on the door loudly.

"Ellie, Enid, get away from the door!" Joel said in a panic. I feel my heart racing in my chest as Joel and Henry tried to open the next door. The door wouldn't last; I knew.

Suddenly, Sam crawls through a vent to reach the other side. "Sam!" I shout. "He just crawled through!" Ellie added.

"He what?! Sam, what the hell are you doing?!" Henry shouted as Sam made it to the other side. "Getting us out of here!" Sam shouted, pulling a pipe out of the door.

Joel pushed the door open and told all of us to run upstairs. We sprint up the stairs and make it to another room that would get us the hell out of here. Henry tried to open it but it wasn't budging.

"Damn thing's stuck!" Henry said loudly. It didn't take me long to notice an open window above the door that we could use to escape. "Look, there's a window up there!" I point out.

"Yeah, give us a boost! We can climb through it!" Ellie adds, her voice full of panic. Henry boosted both Ellie and I up to climb through it. We were both now outside again.

Sam then gets boosted over with us. "Enid, help me move this!" Ellie said, pushing a heavy object that blocked the doorway. I helped her push it out of the way as fast as we could.

"We got it!" Ellie shouted to them. "Get the fuck out of there!" I shout, hearing more infected. Joel and Henry slip out of the half way door. They then block it again with that same heavy object.

**I'm sorry for being away from this story for so long. There were other stories I wanted to get done. But I can now focus on this one. Please don't hate me for leaving it behind. **


	13. Chapter 13 Suburbs

I took a few steps back and sucked in a much needed breath. All the chaos in those sewers had left me breathless. "Fresh air…" Henry says, sucking in a breath. It did feel good to finally be out of there.

"Hey, look at this." Sam said, point at the wall. We all look at the wall in disbelief. There was a warning written on the wall that said, 'Warning. Infected inside. Do not open.'

"Oh are you fucking kidding me?" Ellie scoffed. "Thanks for the fucking warning." I sarcastically say. Henry chuckled as he turned around. We followed him down an open pathway that led to a neighborhood.

"You okay, Enid? You seem freaked out." Ellie asked, nudging me a bit. "I am a little since I thought you were gonna meet your untimely demise by those fuckers." I say, partly joking and partly serious. "Oh I'm sorry. Guess this is unintentional karma for you scaring me." she chuckled.

"Oh hardy har." I sarcastically say. We laugh for a minute before catching up with the others. "Hey, look at that." Henry said, looking at the radio tower that he mentioned, "Yep, what'd I tell you, huh?"

"Let's find a way around it." Joel mumbled. I see that the tower was quite a ways out from where we were. "How about you two? How're you holdin' up?" Joel asks Ellie and I.

"Business as usual, right?" Ellie replies, "While I was with Henry, I took out a couple of infected by myself. You'd be proud." "You're really learning, huh?" I ask playfully. "Oh, I bet so." Ellie replied, hands on her hips.

"And as for me, I'm still a bit shaken up but otherwise okay." I answer Joel's question. "Alright." Joel replied as he jogged ahead of us. We go into an open house.

Ellie, I, and Sam sit on the couch and start talking while Joel searched for supplies. "I gotta ask, how did you two meet?" Sam asked, referring to Ellie and I. We look at each other for a moment and start to think of our first encounter.

"Oh, we met when we were little kids. Enid was getting beaten up by these assholes in a QZ zone and I just happened to save her ass." Ellie answered, nudging me in the ribs. I laugh at that and rub my ribs. "True, but I was doin' okay on my own." I say.

"Nah, you were totally getting your bony white ass kicked." she teased in a smartass tone. "Don't make me hit you." I say with a smile. "Oh, I'm scared now." she sarcastically said. I smack her on the shoulder and her reaction made both me and Sam laugh.

"Okay, okay, yuk it up." she scoffed. After a minute, we stopped laughing. "So, how'd you two end up with Joel?" Sam asked.

"Oh… we… A friend of ours, Marlene, asked him to take us to the Fireflies." she answered him. "You seem to get along well with him." Sam replies. "Pssh, we just boss him around now. Isn't that right, Joel?" I chuckle, seeing Joel come up from the basement stairs.

He didn't reply to me, which was no surprise. We moved on to another house that had a giant hole in the side of it; it led to a kitchen. We continue down the street and spot a house with a warning written on it.

"Will shoot on sight? Lots of friendly people lived here." Sam said sarcastically. "First few months after the outbreak, there was a lot of lootin' going on. Everyone was paranoid. You remember any of that Joel?" Henry informed. "Yeah, everyone barricaded themselves in their homes, then supplies started runnin' low. That's when you say what people were really capable of." Joel said, turning towards Ellie, I, and Sam.

I didn't say anything. Just hearing that made me glad that Ellie, I, and Sam were born after the outbreak. Must've been so fucking chaotic.

We go across the street and enter a house that had a huge hole in the wall. It led to a small kitchen. "I was just five when the cordyceps hit. My memory's pretty hazy but, I remember living in a neighborhood just like this." Henry says, recollecting on the distant memory.

"What do you remember?" Ellie asked curiously. "Ahh… Barbecues. Parents would throw these big barbecues and invite a ton of people. You know, I remember the smell more than anything." Henry answered her. Hearing that made me wonder all of what happened before the outbreak even happened; I know Ellie and Sam must wonder that too.

We walked down the street; Ellie and I saw a couple of dogs playing tug of war with a stick. "Oh, doggies. You see them, Enid?" Ellie asks me, a few steps ahead of me. "Yeah, they're really cute." I say with a chuckle.

"You're gonna want to stay away from those. It's not like the ones in the zone. These are wild." Joel informed us. We continue to jog down the road until a strange looking truck catches my eye. It had pictures of various brands of treats that were faded out by the moss on it.

"What the hell's this?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow in confusion. "Oh, this is an ice cream truck." Sam answered. Ellie and I look over at him.

"An ice cream truck?" Ellie asked. "Yeah, Henry told me about these. They'd sell ice cream out of a truck." Sam said with a grin. "You're kidding. Joel?" I ask, turning towards Joel.

"It's true. They'd drive around and play creepy music. Kids would come running out to buy ice cream when they hear it." Joel said convincingly. I chuckled at that fact. "You're totally fucking with us." Ellie comments.

"Mm-mm. Serious." Joel said, shaking his head. "Wow, what a strange time you lived in." I say, looking back at the ice cream truck. "I'll say." Ellie agreed. "Told you guys so." Sam says.

The five of us continued down the street; dogs were howling and barking in the distance. We go into another house and I feel my stomach growl immensely loud. "Looks like someone's hungry." Ellie said. "I'm starving. Haven't remembered the last time we actually ate anything." I comment.

"You're not the only one hungry." Sam comments, indicating that he was hungry also. "Hey, we'll eat when we get to the radio tower." Henry informs us, sending a wave of relief through us. Ellie, I, and Sam walk into a room that has a dart board in it.

"Darts." Sam said, picking up at least 6 darts from a stool. "Awesome." I comment, jogging over to him. Henry had told him to be careful with it. It's darts; what's the worst that can happen?

We each hold two darts. "Alright, I'll go first." Sam said, tossing a dart at the dartboard. It landed just outside of the bullseye. "Damn it." Sam cursed.

"You're turn, Ellie." I say, stepping back a bit. "Okay. Just throw it?" she says, holding up the dart. She throws it and makes a better shot. "Boosh. I'm a natural." she boasted.

"Oh, that was just luck." I comment, standing in front of the board. "Was not." Ellie scoffed. "Yes, it was. Let me show you how it's done." I say cockily.

I throw it and get it in a row above Ellie. "Shit." I curse. "And you say you're a pro." Ellie teased, giving me a nudge. "Shut it." I reply, rolling my eyes.

It was Sam's turn and he scored much better than the last one. "Ha!" he chuckled. "Alright, get outta here. You're getting cocky." Ellie said, pushing him out of the way.

She threw it her second one and it was a miss. "Fuck." she cursed in frustration. "Terrible." I commented. "Oh yeah? Let's see if you can do any better." Ellie said, stepping out of the way for me. "You got it." I say, holding up my last dart.

I threw it and it landed on the second row away from the bullseye. "Motherfucker, man!" I curse. "Wow, that's gotta be a tie." Ellie says.

"No, no, you two got clearly destroyed." Sam said, pointing at the board. "Bullshit. It was a tie!" Ellie argued. "Yeah, okay." Sam scoffed. "I don't know how we got destroyed there." I sigh, walking away from the dartboard.

We make our way towards the end of the street, which was blocked off by debris. There was a Firefly symbol spray painted on the fence. "Fireflies were here." Henry points out.

"Yeah, by the looks of it." Joel inquired. "How're we going to find them?" Henry asked. "I know a guy. My brother was a Firefly. Last I heard he's in Wyoming. We go there and find him and we find the Fireflies. Whaddya say, you in?" Joel informs lightly. "Sounds like a plan, man." Henry agreed.

Ellie and I look at each other for a minute. Ellie then cracks a smile before pulling out that joke book. "Alright, you two are killing us with your downer talk. It's joke book time." Ellie said, fluttering her lips.

"What is that?" Sam asked. "Just bear with us." I say, holding out a hand slightly. "You wanna hear a joke about pizza? Nevermind, it was too cheesy." Ellie read. None of us laugh at that joke.

"I don't get it." Sam said, looking confused. "Yeah me neither." Ellie agreed. "Here, let me have it. Maybe I'll find a good one." I say.

Ellie hands me the book and I flip through the pages. Then, I found one. "Ah, here we go. Stop me if you heard this one. 'What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, you idiot!'" I read.

"Whoa, that was dumb. Alright, I got a joke for you guys." Sam commented. "Let's hear it." Ellie says, taking the book from me and putting it in her backpack. "Why can't a nose be twelve inches long?" Sam said.

"Don't know. Why?" Ellie asked. "Because it'd be a foot." Sam finished. I ended up snorting at that joke unintentionally.

"That's so dumb. I love it." Ellie says. "Yeah, so do I." I say. We jog to the other side of the neighborhood, we jump down to another level of the neighborhood.

A gunshot was instantly fired at us, getting us to crouch down behind a car. "Fuckin' sniper." Henry whispered, "Did you see where it came from?" There was another shot fired above us.

"Somewhere down the street." Joel replied. Joel peeks over for a second. "Alright, y'all stay here." Joel tells us.

Ellie and I didn't want him to do it obviously. "No." Ellie argued. "Joel-" I start. "Before you start- I need you guys to keep him busy. I'll go around and see if I can get the angle on him." Joel instructed.

"Okay, be careful." Ellie whispered. He nodded before moving to the next car all the while being shot at. The wait was horrible but we knew we had to do it.

After about 10 minutes, the gunfire had stopped. So it was safe for the rest of us to move out. But two hunters made their appearance just as we ran to another car.

Joel quickly took them out by shooting them in the head. As we hid behind more cars, more hunters came rushing at us. Ellie and I raised up and started to shoot back. We both killed all that we could.

Suddenly, a familiar rumbling sound caused my heart to jump into my throat. It was that same fucking truck that was back in the city. "It's those damn tourists from the city!" a hunter shouts.

"Thought you could get away from us, huh?! We're back, motherfucker!" another hunter shouted, starting to rush at us. Obviously, we couldn't shoot the truck. We quickly move from our hiding spot and make our way into another one.

The fucker in the tank started to throw molotovs at us. When he throws a third molotov, he is taken out by Joel. The truck drives straight into a house, killing the fucker inside it instantly.

"Shit, that was intense!" Ellie pants, standing back up. I stand up with her and wipe my sweaty forehead. "You can say that again. My heart's pounding out of my chest." I say, feeling my heart pound in my chest.

She then looks up, giving Joel a thumbs up. "We should get to him." I suggest. They agreed with me; we started to make our way to where Joel was.

Not a few seconds after, two runners charge at us. "Sam!" Henry shouts as he and Sam are tackled to the ground by the runners. Ellie and I shoot the one that knocked Sam over while Joel shot down the other one.

"Sam, are you okay?" Henry asked, helping his brother to his feet. "Yeah. I'm fine." Sam replied. "C'mon, we need to hurry!" Ellie urged. I look over my shoulder to see more infected come into the area.

We all hauled ass towards the house Joel was in. While running, we hear Joel still shooting at the infected. We make it inside and barricade the door so the infected wouldn't come in.

Soon, Joel comes down to where we were. Ellie and I walk to him. "You're okay." Ellie said with a smile. "Still here. Anyone hurt?" Joel asks. "We're good." I answer.

"Good, I think it's time we quit this place. C'mon." Joel says, leading us out of there. We all run to a wooden fence and squeeze through a loose board. We make our way to the radio tower.


	14. Chapter 14 Infected

The five of us set up camp inside of the radio tower. Joel, Ellie, I, and Henry hung out in the living room while Sam was in another room. I sat with my arms holding me up and my legs were stretched out in front of me.

Ellie laid on her side with her arm holding me up; laying on my right side. "Shut the hell up." Henry laughed. "Dead serious." Joel replied, eating some soup that Henry had made. Ellie and I had already eaten some and got full off of it.

We were listening to Joel's story on him and Tommy's past. "It was Tommy's birthday. All he wanted to do was rent two Harley's and drive cross country." Joel said. Henry let his head hang back with a sigh, "Ah man. I could die happy if I could ride one… around the block."

"How was it?" Henry asked. "It was good. Real good." Joel vaguely said. "Good? Can you two believe this guy?" Henry says, looking at Ellie and I, "C'mon, man, gimme details! Describe it!"

"Pssh, you know what? You two look like you could use some privacy." Ellie says as she stands up. "Yeah, we'll leave you two alone." I say, standing up with her. "No, Ellie and Enid. This isn't just any motorcycle, okay? You get on it and feel that engine. Nothing like it!" Henry says, looking up at us with a grin.

"Oh really? How would you know?" I ask, my hands on my hips. "Seen it in my dreams. Vroom, vroom, vroom!" he laughs, pretending to drive said motorcycle. "Okay. C'mon Enid." Ellie scoffs, pulling me with her. "Right behind ya." I say, following her.

Ellie and I walk into the room Sam was in. "Well, safe to say, those two have officially bonded." Ellie says cheerfully. Sam was sitting at a single table with canned food sitting in front of him.

"What's up?" I ask, putting my hands on the table. "Taking stock of the food we found today." Sam replied, looking at the food. "Ah okay. How're we doing on canned peaches?" Ellie asked, picking a can of peaches. "Looks like we got enough. What about beans?" I say, looking at a can of beans.

Sam takes the can out of Ellie's hands and sets it on the table. "Did Henry send you two?" he asks us. Ellie and I were confused at this.

"No. Why would Henry send us?" Ellie asks him. "To make sure I'm not fucking up somehow." Sam groaned, looking down for a minute. "Pssh, I think we all did pretty good back there. Wouldn't you say, Ellie?" I ask with confidence.

"Oh yeah. Especially you, Sam." Ellie agreed. Sam then gets out of his chair and walks to the window. "Hey, is everything okay?" Ellie asks him in concern.

"Yeah, everything's fine." he replied distantly. Ellie and I glance at each other. Both of us knew that something was on his mind but he doesn't want to talk about it.

Silently, we decide not to bother him about it. "Okay…" I say, starting to follow Ellie out of the door. "Have a good night." Ellie says. Before the two of us leave, Sam asks us, "How is it that you guys are never scared?"

We turn to look at him. I look down for a second and rub my arm. "Who says that we're not?" Ellie replied.

Sam takes a step forward. "What are you guys scared of?" he asks us. Ellie and I start walking towards him.

"Ah, let's see." Ellie thinks, "Scorpions are pretty creepy." Sam turns around, not convinced. "Um… being by myself." Ellie continued, getting Sam and I to look at her.

Hearing this broke my heart because of what happened between us. "Scared of ending up alone." she says, taking my hand. "What about you, Enid?" Sam asked, looking at me.

My stomach seemed to twist when he asked that. Other than my fear of heights, I have a deeper fear that I don't like talking about. "I'm… I'm scared of losing the people I love." I say, feeling anxious. Ellie noticed the hesitance in my voice and she squeezed my hand.

"What about you?" I ask Sam. "Those things out there." Sam said, "What if the people are still inside? What if they're trapped in there without any control of their body? I'm scared of that happening to me." "Okay, first of all, we're a team now. Okay, we'll help each other." Ellie assures him.

"Yeah and… *sigh* those people are not there anymore despite them looking like people." I add, leaning on the table. As I look at the infected, I don't see any humanity left in them. Once they're bitten, it's game over.

Sam looked down at what I said. "Henry says they've moved on. That they're with their families in heaven. Do you guys think that's true?" He asks. I gaze down at my hands for a minute, thinking of how to answer that.

"We go back and forth. Well, I mean, Enid and I would like to believe it." Ellie says with a nod. "But you guys don't." Sam points out. I twist my lips and look up at him. "Nah… guess we don't." I say.

Neither Ellie or I believe that there is something to look forward to after we die. Truthfully, we're just not sure if there is. "Yeah, me neither." Sam sighed, looking back out of the window.

Just then, I suddenly remembered something. I stand up and tap Ellie on her arm. She looks at me in response. I glance at her backpack and grin.

It took her a minute to get what I was saying. "Oh. With all this serious talk, we almost forgot." Ellie said, taking off her backpack. She digs through it and pulls out that toy robot that we've been saving since Pittsburgh.

Ellie sets it on the table and Sam picks it up. "There. If Henry doesn't know about it, then he won't take it away." I say with a smile. Ellie then puts her backpack on.

"Alright. I'm pooped. We'll see you tomorrow." Ellie said, heading for the door. I didn't leave though because I was looking through my own bag. "I'll be in there in a second, Ellie." I tell her, looking back at her. "Okay." she said, exiting the room.

I don't know why I was looking through my bag. Maybe I was looking for an excuse to stay here with Sam. Although I'm not entirely sure.

The sound of the robot toy hitting the concrete floor broke my irrelevant search in my bag. I glance up at Sam to see him sitting down on the metal chair. He pulled up his pant leg and… I swear I felt my heart jump into my throat. There was a single bite mark on his shin.

"Sam…?" I gasp, slowly standing up. I was in pure shock and I felt my skin drain of its color. He looks up at me, a look of nervousness written all over it. "You're bitten?" I say, feeling my stomach twist.

He didn't say anything which gave me an answer. "Oh my god… I gotta tell them!" I exclaim, rushing to the door. However, I feel Sam grab my arm with a firm grip just before I reached it.

I look behind me and see Sam looking at me with a look of plea. "Don't tell them. Please don't tell them, Enid. They can't know. Not even Henry." he begged, not letting go of my arm. I waited a minute and began thinking.

I hadn't told them about Ellie being bitten as I promised to both her and Joel. So, shouldn't I do the same with Sam? Unlike Ellie, he's not immune…

"Okay… okay. I won't say anything." I sigh, not feeling good about all of this. "Thank you." he said, walking away from me. I sigh and look down. I then exit the room, shutting the door behind me.

I pressed my body against the door for a minute and tilt my head back. I couldn't believe that Sam was bitten. It couldn't be happening.

I look up and see that everyone was asleep. No one heard what I said in the other room which was a relief. I take my place next to Ellie and lay down on my back with my arms crossing my stomach.

I probably laid there for a good half hour at least. My mind was still wired up after finding out Sam being bitten. But I did eventually go to sleep but not for long.

That same nightmare entered my head, waking me up about 6 hours after going to sleep. I gasp loudly before opening my eyes again. I see that I was still in the same radio tower and not back in the QZ zone. I also say that daylight was starting to break.

I sit up and rub my forehead. It had beads of sweat on it, definitely not from the heat. "You okay, Enid?" Ellie asked me, noticing I was awake. "Um… yeah. Yeah. Just another bad dream." I assure her.

Ellie knew what dream I was having and sat up to hug me. I hugged her back for a minute before we broke it. "Wanna talk about it?" she asked.

"Nah, it's not a big deal. I'll be fine. Don't worry." I assure, giving her a smile. She smiled back at me before looking back at the door where Sam was. "You think he's okay?" she asked me in concern.

I once again felt my stomach twist and my skin went white. But I suppress my nausea long enough to answer her because I knew that he wasn't okay. "I-I think so. I'm gonna go check on him. Just to make sure." I stutter, trying to hide what I was feeling.

"Okay." Ellie said, squeezing my hand for a moment to provide comfort. I push myself up to my feet and walk over to the door. Turning the knob, the nausea in my stomach intensified. I didn't want to walk through the door but I knew I had to.

I enter the room and see Sam standing in the corner of the room, twitching. My fear had been realized when I saw that he had already turned. "S-Sam?" I stutter, walking a bit towards him.

Suddenly, Sam quickly turns around with a screech and jumped onto me. "SAM!" I scream, being knocked to the floor on my back. I start to fight him off by using my arms to keep him off of me.

He tried his hardest to bite me while snarling. "Enid!" Ellie shouted, opening the door quickly and loudly. Sam hears this and gets off of me. He then jumps onto Ellie, knocking her onto the floor where Henry and Joel were.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I quickly jump up, open knife in my hand. "Shit, he's turning!" Joel shouts, running to his bag to get his gun. I tried to save Ellie by stabbing Sam in the head but Henry caught me doing so and shot my knife right out of my hand. I fell back onto my ass when he did that.

"Don't! That's my fucking brother!" he yelled, keeping the gun trained on me. I look over in sheer terror at Ellie, who was still trying to fight Sam off. "Screw it!" Joel shouts, going back to get his gun.

Before either of us could do anything, we hear another gunshot. Looking over, I saw that Henry shot Sam in the head, killing him instantly. Ellie pushed his body off of her and she shuffled back in panic.

"Oh, shit…" she said breathlessly. I make my way over to her quickly, my hands still shaking. "Ellie, Enid, are you two okay?" Joel asked us, kneeling down towards us. "Uh huh…" Ellie nodded. "Oh my god… no…" I gasp, feeling tears in my eyes.

"Sam?" Henry tearfully says. We all look over at a distraught Henry, who was crying now. "Sam…" Henry repeats, tears running down his face. Joel gets up slowly and tells Ellie and I to stay put.

I take ahold of Ellie's arm and pull her close to me. She puts her hand on me as we both look up at Henry. "Henry…" Joel said cautiously. "Henry, what have you done?" Henry asked himself, crying harder.

"I'm gonna get the gun away from you, okay?" Joel says, slowly shuffling towards Henry. "Sa...Sa...Sam…" Henry stuttered, aiming the gun towards Joel. "Whoa. Okay, okay, easy." Joel says, holding both hands up.

"This is your fault…" Henry said, both hands on the gun. "It's no one's fault, Henry." Joel replied. "It's all your fault!" Henry shouted. "Henry. Henry, no…" Joel starts but it was too late.

Henry turned the gun onto himself and pulled the trigger; shooting himself in the head. "Oh my god…" Ellie gasps. I couldn't say anything at that point… Henry couldn't live on knowing that he was the one that took his brother's life. Goddammit...


	15. Chapter 15 Tommy's Dam

A few months had gone by, meaning that fall was upon us. The weather was getting more chilly. It was raining a little bit more than last week. We, of course, changed into different clothing that fit with the season.

I wore a black sweater, with a blue denim jean jacket, and my dark blue jeans with the holes in the knees. Ellie had on a white shirt with a jacket that was pink on top, white in the middle, and brown on the bottom. Joel was wearing a faded red checkered flannel.

By this time, we had made it to Jackson County. From the looks of it, it was a lot different than the other counties we've crossed through. There was green everywhere with mountains in the distance. There were also purplish blue flowers in the ground.

"Jackson County." Ellie reads a sign that says where we're at. "Does that mean we're close to Jackson City?" I ask. "It shouldn't be more than a few miles." Joel informs, walking ahead of us.

Ellie and I follow him down a trail. "You ready to see your dear, old brother?" Ellie asks him. "I'm just ready to get there." Joel replies to her. "I bet if anything you're nervous. Especially since god knows how long it's been since you saw him last." I say, picking up the pace.

"I don't know what I'm feeling." Joel said. The three of us continue our way down the muddy path. A bunch of squirrels run up the trees. Sure as hell a lot of animals in this county.

The end of the road was a dead end unsuprisingly. "Well, so much for this road." Ellie sighed as she looked down. I too glance down and see a river raging at the bottom. "Now what?" I ask, backing up.

"We follow the river. It'll lead us straight to Tommy's." Joel said. He turns around and finds us a way down. While moving downward, a question begged at us. We never bothered to ask about why Joel never mentioned how him and Tommy quit seeing each other.

"What happened between you two?" I asked, jumping down a ledge with Ellie behind me. "What do you mean?" Joel asked. "What she means is the relationship between you and Tommy. You guys aren't together so clearly something went down." Ellie finished.

"Just had a bit of a disagreement is all." Joel says, making it to the bottom level. "Disagreement, huh? What was it about?" I ask curiously. "Yeah, we're curious to know." Ellie adds, prodding on.

"Tommy saw the world one way and I saw the other." Joel answers. "Is that why he joined the Fireflies?" Ellie wondered. "Well, ya'll's friend, Marlene, promised him hope. That kept him busy for a little while but he eventually quit that too." Joel sighed, climbing up some rocks.

"How was it the last time you saw him?" Ellie asked him. "I believe the last thing he said to me was I don't ever want to see your goddamned face again." Joel recollected. Ellie and I look at each other for a minute. We were both thinking the same thing at this moment.

"Jeez… so will he help us?" I ask, doubting it a bit. "I suppose we're gonna find out." Joel replied. "Well, with or without his help, we'll get there." Ellie said. I could tell she was trying to make the mood better but it wasn't working.

We jog around another corner. Ellie and I see a large building with a rotating wheel attached to it. "Whoa, what is that?" Ellie asks in confusion. "That right there is a hydroelectric power plant." Joel tells us.

"Ellie, do you speak the language he speaks?" I joke, looking at her. "Hell no I don't. What is that exactly?" Ellie asks Joel. "It uh… uses the river's movement and turns it into electricity." Joel answers, climbing up the steps.

"How does it work?" Ellie asked, walking up the steps and by a railing. I walk behind her and look over the railing at the water below us. "Look, I know what it is, I don't know how it does it." Joel said, going inside the small building to gather supplies.

"Alright, how're we getting across?" Ellie wondered, looking around to find us a way across. "Yeah, that water's too rough to go through." I add, observing the area in front of us. Joel then walks over to a wheel and he starts to turn it so that the platform rose up out of the water.

"Well, that gets us halfway. If we get the other one up we can make it across." Ellie pointed out. We walked down to another small ledge where there was deep water. Joel jumped in the water. "I'll find something. You two hang tight." he said before he dives underwater.

"Guarantee he's gonna get another fucking board, yeah?" I say, sputtering my lips. "No fucking doubt about it. I mean, there's no other way for us to get across." Ellie replies, hands on her hips. "You go and I'll walk across it with Joel." I suggest, seeing it wouldn't make sense for both of us to go.

"Okay." Ellie agreed. And as we expected, a wooden pallet floats out of the water. Joel pops out of it a second after. "Alright, I need one of you to-" Joel started, pushing the pallet towards us.

"We know. Step on the fucking pallet." Ellie interrupts, jumping onto the pallet. As Joel dragged her to the other side, I watched with my hands on the railings. Ellie climbed onto the platform and turned the other wheel to get the other platform rose up from the water.

Joel and I walk across the joined platforms. I held up my arms to keep my balance. "Be careful crossing that thing." Ellie called. "We will." Joel replied.

When we got to the other side, Ellie raised her hand for a high five. "Teamwork." she says. I didn't hesitate to high five her with both hands. Joel high fived her also.

Ellie and I laugh for a minute. We then follow Joel down another path until we come across another forest area. "Agh, I'm so hungry!" Ellie complained. "Oh, you think you're the only one?" I say, giving her a playful shove. My stomach then growled at the mention of hunger.

"I know. I am too." Joel adds. "Alright, next time I see a squirrel I'm totally shooting it." Ellie says. "Maybe I'll get it first." I tease. "We'll see about that." Ellie said in a laugh.

"Let's just get passed this place and then we can scrounge up some food." Joel said, walking under a fallen tree. "Well, if we starve, you're responsible." Ellie says. We make it to a large metal gate with a large fence surrounding it.

"Uh… should we head in?" Ellie asked. "Ain't no way around. Gonna have to cut through the plant." Joel said, walking to the gate. Joel grabs the handles and tries to push it open but it wouldn't budge.

Suddenly, we all hear the sound of guns being aimed at us. Instinctively, I pull out my pistol along with Ellie. A woman's voice grabbed our attention, "Don't even think about reaching for your weapons." Ellie and I aim our guns at the blonde haired lady.

"Tell the girls to drop theirs now!" the woman demanded. Joel slowly raised his hands up because the lady had a rifle aimed at us. "Ellie. Enid, do as the lady says." he tells us. I look over at Joel and then back at the blonde haired woman. I lower my gun and raise my hands up in the air. Ellie does too.

"Please tell me you're lost." the woman says. "Look, we didn't know the place was occupied. We're just making our way through." Joel says honestly. "Through to where?" the woman asks.

"They're alright." another male voice said. "What? You know these people?" the lady asked. "I know him. He's my goddamn brother." the man said, poking his head out to look at Joel. This was Joel's brother. He looked just like Joel.

"Tommy." Joel murmurs, looking in surprise at his brother. "Holy shit." Tommy replied, walking over to Joel to hug him. Joel slowly hugged him back. "How you doin', little brother?" Joel asked. "Goddamn." Tommy sighed.

"Let me look at you." Tommy says, breaking the hug while keeping a hand on his shoulder, "You got fuckin' old." "Easy- it's gonna happen to you too." Joel says, partly joking. Ellie and I smirked at the reunion. Reminded of when me and her were reunited back in Boston.

Then, the blonde haired lady walks up next to Tommy. "This is Maria. Be nice to her, she sorta runs things around here." Tommy introduced with a smile. "Ma'am. Thanks for not blowing my head off." Joel says, looking at Maria.

"Would've been embarrassing, considering you're my brother-in-law." Maria pointed out, getting a shocked reaction out of Joel. Ellie and I looked at each other for a second and didn't say anything. "We all gotta get wrangled up at some point." Tommy sighs.

Maria then looks over at Ellie and I with a friendly smile on her face. "Ellie and Enid, right?" she asked. Ellie nods at this. "Yeah, that's us." I say. "What brings you two through here?" Maria asked us.

Ellie and I look at each other for a second. "Um… kind of a long story." Ellie says for the both of us. "Why don't we bring 'em inside?" Tommy suggests. "Yeah. You two hungry?" Maria asks Ellie and I.

Our eyes widen at the sound of that. "Starving." Ellie says eagerly. "Yeah, let's eat." I say with a smile. I want to get something good inside of me for once. We all walk inside the gate and Tommy closes it behind us.

"False alarm! They're friendlies!" Maria calls out to the people on the wall, "We've been dealing with raids. Lots of bandits around here." "It's been quiet for a few days." Tommy adds. I look around the area and see men in hard hats as they were seemingly fixing something. Then, I see some horses sitting at the end of the small area.

"Hey, Ellie, look. They've got horses." I say, jogging towards the brown and white horse. "Oh, awesome." Ellie enthusiastically says, jogging behind me.

"We got a whole lot of 'em." Tommy tells us. I stood on the right side of the horse and couldn't stop smiling. "Can we?" Ellie asks for the both of us. "Of course. He likes it when you pet his ears." the woman who was brushing the horse says. I stroke the horse's neck gently and feel it's smooth hair touch my hand.

"Have you two ever ridden one?" Maria asked us. "I actually have. Have you, Enid?" Ellie says. "Actually no. I haven't but I have seen them before." I answer, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Well, you're certainly missing out." Ellie chuckled.

"If you two want we can take them riding later. We can give Enid here some lessons." Maria says to us. That excited both Ellie and I. "That'd be awesome." Ellie chuckled.

We walk on from the horses and follow Joel and them. "Ellie, when have you ridden a horse?" I ask, my arms crossed. "Oh, a soldier from the zone gave me lessons." Ellie replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Damn, you're right. I have missed out." I joke. She laughed at what I said. We all then go inside of the next building with Maria leading. Once inside, a radio that was attached to Maria's belt went off.

"Maria." a male voice said. She takes it off of her belt and holds it up to her mouth. "Yeah, go ahead." she spoke. "We're in the control room. Steve's about to start it back up. Do you want to check it out?" the male voice asks.

Maria rolled her eyes and looked at Ellie and I. "I'd rather eat with Ellie and Enid." she says to Tommy. "It's my turn anyway. I'll go." Tommy said, walking over to the next door. "I'll come with you." Joel says to Tommy before looking at Ellie and I, "Go with Maria and put some food in you both."

Ellie and I jump forward at that, not wanting to leave Joel. "C'mon, you two. Let's give the boys some space." Maria said. "I'm sending Tommy over, stand by. C'mon." Maria calmly urged, pulling Ellie and I away from the door.

Maria had given Ellie and I some of the food that his community has. It was fried chicken, some green beans, and some mashed potatoes. I can't say how long it's been since either of us have had a fresh meal like this.

After we were finished eating, Maria had told us something about Joel that neither of us knew about. "Did Joel tell you about Sarah?" Maria asked, reloading a rifle she had. "Who's that? A girlfriend of his or something?" Ellie asked curiously.

Maria looked at us with a serious look, showing that that wasn't the case. "No. Not a girlfriend or wife. She was his daughter." Maria said, getting my stomach to drop. "Wait. Joel had a daughter and didn't say anything?" I question.

"He's got a picture of her somewhere. Here. Let me go get it." Maria said, walking out of the room for a minute. I leaned against a table and sputtered my lips. "Why didn't Joel say anything about Sarah?" Ellie wondered.

"Maybe talking about her brings back bad memories. I don't know. I could be wrong." I reply. "Yeah. You might be right." Ellie said, taking her place next to me on the table. We sit in silence for a minute.

"Something on your mind, Enid?" Ellie asked. "Hmm?" I say, raising my eyebrows. "I know that look on your face. There's something that I know you want to say." Ellie said, nudging me a little.

I giggle cutely and rub my nose. "You caught me. Can't hide anything from you, no?" I ask. "Not by a fucking longshot. Now spill the beans." she smiled, wrapping an arm around my waist. I froze for a second when she did that.

"It's just that… the way Tommy and Joel were reunited reminded me of when we were reunited back in Boston." I admit to her, feeling my heart starting to pump. "Oh really? I was thinking the same." she says, getting me to look at her.

"You were?" I ask, now curious. "Oh hell yeah. The minute you said my name back in Boston. I didn't think it was you at first. You have changed a bunch since we last saw each other. Did you recognize me?" she wondered. My cheeks began to turn pink.

"No I didn't. I didn't think I'd ever see you again after we got seperated." I reply, feeling my heart pound even more. She looked away for a minute before looking back at me. "Yeah… I didn't think I'd ever see my partner in crime again." she uttered.

The more I looked at Ellie's face, the more my heart started to pound uncontrollably. I looked at her eyes with a deep, unbreakable stare. Those green eyes suited her very well and it honestly made me weak in the knees.

"Ellie?" I say, feeling myself leaning closer towards her. "Yeah?" she whispered, leaning forward too. Our lips were about to touch before the sound of a door opening made us snap out of our trance.

Ellie lets me go and I scoot away from her a couple of inches, my cheeks totally red. "I found the picture and I-" Maria started before she noticed the looks on our faces. "Did I miss something?" she asked in a chuckle.

"N-No. You didn't miss anything. We were… just talking." Ellie stuttered. '_Did she try to kiss me? Or did I try to kiss her? No… I'm just overthinking things. I can't fuck up our friendship. Don't fuck it up, Enid! Don't fuck it up!' _I think to myself, not making eye contact with Ellie and Maria for a minute.

"Anyway, I found the only picture Tommy has of Sarah." Maria said, clearing her throat. I turn to look and see the picture that Maria was holding. It was of Joel when he was younger with his arm wrapped around a girl with blonde hair, holding a trophy.

"Wow… she looks just like him." Ellie said. "Yeah she do-" I say before a loud alarm sounds off. The loud sound caused Ellie and I to become alert. "Maria, what the hell's that?" I ask, pulling out my pistol.

"It means we're under attack!" Maria shouted, pushing us behind a desk. Ellie pulls out her gun and quickly reloads it. Then, the door to this building breaks down by another fucker.

The three of us hide in another small room that was in this one and take cover behind the wall. "Tommy! Bandits! They're breaking into the building!" Maria said in a panic through her radio. "Can you get out of there?" Tommy's voice asked. "No, we're trapped." Maria replied.

"We're coming to you, just stay-" Tommy said. Just then, the bandits started to pour into the building we were in. "They're here, Ellie, Enid, hide!" Maria shouted, "Run!" The three of us hid in another small room that was in this one and took cover behind the wall.

The bandits started to come in, one of which had a shotgun. Ellie and I start to shoot at the fuckers. Maria also started to shoot at the bandits with her rifle.

I shoot a guy in the chest and shoot him in the head. Ellie kills another guy by shooting him 3 times. Before we knew it, Joel and Tommy had made their appearance and started to help us with the remaining bandits in here. I managed to kill a fucker by shooting him in the throat.

Soon enough, all the bandits were killed. "Tommy?" Maria called out. "Maria!" Tommy called back, sounding delighted. "I'm alright! The kids are with me!" she replied, walking out of the office and over to Tommy.

Ellie and I come out behind her and run to Joel. "Joel… Oh man." Ellie starts, sounding out of breath. "There were bandits everywhere!" I cry to him. "Yeah, and Maria was like 'We gotta run! And this huge guy blasts in with a shotgun!" Ellie finished, doing hand motions in the process.

"Hey, slow down! Are you two hurt?" Joel asks us. I inspected myself for a minute before looking back up. "No. We're okay." I answer for the both of us.

Off in the distance I hear Tommy say, "Goddammit. I need to talk to you." Not a couple of minutes later, Ellie and I hear Tommy and Maria arguing off in the distance. Joel was sitting on some boxes as he listened to them.

"What's that all about?" Ellie asked. I lean over a bit to listen closely. "Does that have anything to do with us?" I wonder. "We'll talk about it later." Joel says, looking away.

"Did he tell you where the lab is?" Ellie asked. Surely they'd had to have talked about where the science lab was. "We'll talk about it later." Joel repeated. I narrowed my eyebrows and felt irritated that he wasn't answering our questions.

"Later." Ellie says, also irritated. We then walk away from Joel without looking at him. "Can you believe this, Ellie? We need to know where the fucking lab is and he's not wanting to talk about it." I scoff, walking over to where the horses were.

"I honestly can't. Or maybe… maybe he didn't say anything about where the lab was. I bet he is wanting to leave us so Tommy could finish the job." Ellie said, her voice sounding a bit more hurt.

Looking back at Joel, I hear what she said. He didn't want to do this fucking job to begin with. He's just looking for another thing to get rid of. "I can't believe this…" I say, feeling my heart shatter the second I realized this.

"C'mon. Let's get the fuck out of here." Ellie said, mounting a painted horse that we petted earlier. I look back at Joel once more. She leaned down to hoist me up. I grab her hand and she pulls me up so that I was sitting behind her.

I wrap my arms around her waist so that I wouldn't fall off the horse. We then ride off out of the power plant. From behind us, I hear someone call out to us. We didn't stop running.

We pass tall trees and go under a bridge. There was trucks on the side of the road with foilage growing on them. Soon enough, we see this ranch house that was a perfect hiding spot for us.

"Ellie, over there!" I say, pointing over to where the house is. "Okay. We'll stop there." Ellie agreed, having the horse turn in the driveway of the house. We jumped over a small barricade, which made my stomach leap.

We park the horse by the porch. I slide off of the horse and walk up on the porch. Ellie ties the horse to the porch railings.

"You think that they'll find us here?" I ask her. "Probably. But this should show him." Ellie replied, her voice filled with anger. Ellie opens the front door and we walk inside the house.

It was surprisingly in mint condition. No plants or anything falling apart. "C'mon. Let's see what's upstairs." Ellie suggested, going up the staircase. I follow her, jogging up the stairs. We walk into a bedroom.

From the looks of it, it had to have been a teenager girl's room. There were stuffed animals sitting by the window, posters from old movies hanging on the walls that were starting to fade, the bed was made.

"Hey, look at this." Ellie said, picking up a journal that was on the floor. I sit with her on the window sill and we both take a look at what was inside it.

What was written in there really boggled our minds. This girl's journal was filled to the brim about ridiculous drama such as when to meet this guy so they could rendevous under a set of bleachers, or how another guy wouldn't ask her out.

They'd also talk about what the latest movies were and how most of them sucked. "Pssh. Can't believe this was their mindset before the outbreak." I scoff at the ridiculousness of this journal. "Oh, I know it. It's really crazy that this is all they had to worry about." Ellie agreed.

We got caught up in our reading that we didn't hear Joel walk through the door. "Ellie?! Enid?!" he called loudly. Ellie looks up at the door and says, "We're up here." I rolled my eyes because I figured that we wouldn't get away with this.

Joel walked into the room Ellie and I were in. I felt anger rise up in my chest when I saw him. "Is this really all they had to worry about? Boys. Movies. Deciding which shirt goes with which skirt?" Ellie laughed at this. "It's quite bizarre." I add.

"C'mon. We're leaving." Joel says to us, heading for the door. Ellie and I didn't move from our spot. "And if we say no?" Ellie says, sitting up. She sets the journal aside and looks up at Joel.

"Do you two realize what your lives mean? Huh? Running off like that and putting yourselves at risk? That was pretty goddamn stupid." Joel scolded, turning back towards us. "Well, looks like we're disappointed with each other then." I say, showing that I wasn't happy. "What do you two want from me?" Joel argued, taking a step towards us.

"Admit that you wanted to get rid of Enid and I the whole time." Ellie argued back. Joel was silent for a minute before he responded. "Tommy knows this area better than-" Joel started. I shook my head in disbelief and stood up with my head in my hands.

"Agh, fuck that-" Ellie scowled. "Well, I'm sorry. I trust him better than I trust myself." Joel says to us. I look up at him with my eyes narrowed. "Cut the bullshit, Joel! What is it that you're so fucking afraid of? That Ellie and I are gonna end up like Sam? Ellie can't get infected! Look, we can take care of ourselves!" I argue, raising my voice at him.

"How many close calls have we had?" Joel reminds. "Well, we seem to be doing okay so far!" Ellie shouted. "And now you two will be doing even better with Tommy!" Joel shouted, turning his back to us. He wasn't able to look at us anymore.

Ellie and I silently look at each other before breaking the silence. "We're not her, you know." Ellie calmly said. "What?" Joel said, turning around. "Maria had told us about Sarah and we-" I say but Joel quickly stops me.

"Ellie. Enid. You two are treading on some mighty thin ice here." he said as a warning. But that wouldn't stop us from prodding on. "Look, we're sorry about your daughter, Joel. But we have lost people too." Ellie said. "Both of you have no clue what loss is." Joel quickly replies, taking a step further.

I feel tears start to form in my eyes. How can he say that…? "Everyone that we have cared for has either died or left us. I had lost Enid before." Ellie says, taking a step towards him. She too had tears in her eyes.

"Everyone… everyone except fucking you!" I yell, pushing him back slightly. We had never known our parents. Marlene dropped us off with Joel and she's most likely already dead. And if he thinks that dropping us off to another person that we don't know is what he's gonna do then he's dead fucking wrong.

"So don't tell us that we would be better off with someone else because the truth is we'd be more scared." Ellie shouted, her voice starting to break. I was still distraught of losing Ellie that first time and losing Jesse to those soldiers. Not only that but we also lost Sam and Henry. We cannot bear to lose another person.

"You two are right. You're not my daughters. And I sure as hell ain't your dad. And we are going our separate ways." Joel tells us, his eyes narrowing. Hearing those words felt like a bullet went through my heart and a silent tear fell down my cheek.

Tommy then bursted into the room, rifle in his hands. "Get it together. We're not alone." he said, standing by the door. Joel walked over to the window and looked outside. "I got two walking in." he says. "They're moving inside already." Tommy said.

Ellie and I move beside Tommy with our heads lowered. Ellie and I were faced with the fact that we were guilty for bringing the hunters here as well as Joel and Tommy. How could we feel any worse?


	16. Chapter 16 Tommy's Dam Pt 2

We all crouched down in the bedroom as the hunters made their way upstairs. Joel followed a hunter into the bathroom and I could hear him choking the hunter out. I pull out my gun and hold it tightly in my hands just in case I need it.

Joel had quickly taken out the rest of the hunters. "Alright. House is clear." Joel calls to us. "Let's get back to the horses." Tommy replied. Ellie and I walk down the stairs in silence.

Joel opened the front door with his gun out. "We're clear." he says. Tommy walked out after Joel. Ellie and I walked passed Joel without even looking at him.

We walk over to the horse we used to get here. "You need a hand up?" Tommy asked Ellie and I. "We got it." Ellie replied. I untie the horse from the porch railing and give them to Ellie.

She mounts on the horse first before helping me up. I wrapped my arms around Ellie's waist again. Tommy leads the way out of the ranch house with Ellie and I behind him and Joel in the very back.

The whole way we remained silent; not a single word was spoken. About 5 minutes later, we came to a cliffside that overlooked a town with lit houses below. "There she is." Tommy proudly says, "Kids'll be watching movies tonight."

I loosen my grip on Ellie's waist and lean back a bit. "Where's this lab of theirs?" Joel asked Tommy. "It's all the way out- University of Eastern Colorado." Tommy answered. "Ellie, Enid, get off your horse. Give it back to Tommy." Joel says to Ellie and I.

Ellie and I glance at one another; I see the sadness turn to happiness. I also felt happy that he wasn't having Tommy finish the job for him. "I'm gonna hang on to this fella, if that's alright with you." Joel says, patting the horse he was on, "Go on. Don't make me repeat myself."

Ellie and I were taking it in all in and we haven't gotten off our horse yet. I slide down off of the horse with Ellie behind me. She led the horse over to Tommy as I walked to where Joel was.

"What're you doing?" Tommy asked Joel. "Your wife kinda scares me. I don't want her coming after me." Joel said, getting Tommy to laugh. "Sorry about stealing your horse." Ellie apologized, giving the reins back to Tommy.

"Come back to town. Let's discuss it at least." Tommy suggested. Joel leaned down to help Ellie on first before helping me on the horse. "You know me. My mind's all made up." Joel said. I once again wrap my arm around Ellie's waist in order to stay on the horse.

"University Eastern Colorado. How do I find this lab?" Joel asked, looking at Tommy. "It's in the science building. Looks like a giant mirror, you can't miss it." Tommy replies. I look up at Joel for a moment with a smile on my face.

"You take care of that wife of yours." Joel tells Tommy. "There's a place for you here, you know." Tommy informs us. Looks like Tommy and Joel seemed to be on good terms.

"You guys good?" Joel asked Ellie and I, looking back at us. "Yeah. I'm good." Ellie replies. "Same here." I say, feeling better now. "Adios, little brother." Joel says. Joel then turns the horse in the left path and we ride off towards that lab.


	17. Chapter 17 University of EasternColorado

For a few hours, we were far away from Tommy's dam. We came across what I could assume to be the university. To pass the time, Joel was teaching Ellie and I about a game that he used to play back before the outbreak.

"So let's see if we got this straight. If you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team?" Ellie asked. "Right. It's called turn over." Joel tells us. "And if you clear the ten yards then you're back at… first down?" I ask, not sure if that was right. "First down, that's right." Joel praised.

"Man, it's confusing." Ellie said with a moan. "Yeah, I don't get it." I say, looking around the area we were in. "You just gotta play it a couple of times. It'll make sense then." Joel says to us as we walk up to the entrance of the university.

Joel speeds the horse's pace up to a canter as we move through the entrance of the university. We jump over a small barbed wire barricade before turning to a garage. He dismounted the horse so he could look around.

"Stay Callus. What kind of a name is Callus anyway?" Joel asks us.  
Not our fault you forgot to ask Tommy his name." Ellie replies, scooting forward onto the saddle. I scoot up with her. "I mean the name could be worse. Like Acorn or Barney or some shit like that." I shrug, getting a laugh out of Ellie.

"Callus." Joel said in a laugh. He goes inside the garage and starts searching the place. "Acorn? Barney? Those are pretty shitty names." Ellie says, looking back at me. "Like I said, the name could be worse." I say, shrugging my shoulders.

After a bit, Joel comes back and remounts the horse, getting Ellie and I to scoot back. We move on and make it into another part of the university. Some of the area was blocked off with the same stuff that Joel's friend made.

"Hey, is that it?" Ellie asked, pointing to a large building. I glance over to it and see what she's talking about it. "Yeah, it does look like a giant mirror." Joel agrees.

He led the horse into a building that had a hole in the wall. "Do you know how many people will be there with the Fireflies?" I ask, ducking my head from the wall. "Reckon it takes quite a crew to run that operation." Joel replies.

"You think there will be people there our age?" Ellie asked as we turned a corner. "I'm not sure." Joel replies, sounding unsure. We come across a closed metal gate.

Joel jumps off the horse and goes to open the gate. Just as he did, the horse started to freak out, making a crying sound. "Whoa, what is it, boy?" Joel said, turning towards the horse. A loud screeching sound comes from the other side of the next room.

"Sounds like runners." Ellie says, keeping her voice low. "They're upstairs I think." I add, listening closely. "You two stay with the horse. I'll go check it out." Joel said, opening the gate and closing it behind him. "Are you sure?" Ellie asked.

"Yes. I don't want him running off. I'll be right back." Joel whispered, making his way upstairs to deal with the runners. Ellie had gotten off of the horse and stayed crouched on the ground while I stayed on the horse, sitting in the saddle. I keep quiet while petting the horse's neck in order to calm him.

Not long after, Joel had returned from dealing with the infected. Ellie then opens up the gate while bringing up something that lightened the mood. "Hey, I was thinking, I wanted to be an astronaut." she said, coming back to mount the horse.

"That a fact?" Joel replies. "Yeah. What about you, Enid? Don't think you've ever told me about what you wanted to be." Ellie says, getting onto the horse. I began to think of what I'd want to be when I grew up. I do know that Ellie had a thing for space.

"To be honest, the same." I say, helping her up. "Really? Didn't think you'd have a fascination for outer space too." Ellie said in surprise. "Yeah, that was one thing I forgot to mention." I say.

"It's okay. I'll forgive you this time." Ellie teased with a laugh. Joel then opens the next gate. Ellie hangs onto me this time as I hold the reins. I get the horse to move outside. For my first time riding a horse like this, it wasn't as hard.

"What about you, Joel? What'd you want to be?" Ellie asked. "Oh, well, when I was a kid I used to want to be… a singer." Joel admits. This gets Ellie and I to laugh.

"Shut up." Ellie laughed. "I'm serious." Joel says, climbing up some steps. "Then sing something for us." I say. "Ah, no." he tells us, mounting the horse so we could get over another barbed wire barricade.

"C'mon, it's not like we're gonna laugh at you." I say with a smile. "I don't think so." Joel refused again. "Joel. Please." Ellie begged. At this point, I could tell that he was too stubborn to comply so we left it alone.

I hung onto Joel's backpack while Ellie had her arms around my waist. "Hey look, monkeys!" Ellie says, pointing to a statue that had a lot of monkeys on it. "Yeah, a whole mess of them." Joel commented.

We ride down the steps, causing the monkeys to flee to another building. "That was awesome." I comment, a bright smile on my face. "First time you two have seen a monkey?" Joel asked. "First time seeing a monkey." Ellie confirmed. "Well, I've seen them in books and stuff." I remark.

We rode on until I caught a glimpse of a faded sign that said, 'Science Lab'. Joel had followed the directions of it. We turn another corner and run into another gate.

Joel had got off Callus and said he was going to scout ahead. "Okay. We'll stay with Callus." Ellie said, also sliding off of him. I also get off of the horse, almost losing my balance. Joel ducks underneath an accessible doorway that was partially blocked off with chairs.

"Watch yourself." Ellie says. "You guys too." Joel replied. I stay beside Callus and stroke the side of his neck. Ellie looks through the closed gate and starts observing the area. "You see anything?" I ask her.

"Yeah, a generator that looked like it could be plugged in." Ellie announced, raising to her feet. "Good find. That could be our ticket out of here." I reply. She walks back over to me and pulls out her joke book.

"Wanna hear a few good jokes to pass the time?" she asked, opening the book. My eyes lit up at that. "You read my mind. Whatcha got?" I ask, cracking a smile. She clears her throat before reading one.

"I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over." Ellie read. "Dude, not cool." I say with a laugh. She too laughs at that one. "How about this one?" she said, "Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now."

I scoff at that one. "Lame." I say. "Yeah, that one kinda sucked." she agreed. She flipped through the pages. "Oooh, here's one that surely makes you bust a gut." she says, "How do you throw a space party? You planet."

I put my hands on my hips and cock my head to the side. "Did you pick that one because of it having space in it?" I asked. She put the book up when I said that. "Maybe." she said in a smartass tone. I then felt my cheeks start to become red. Holy shit, what am I gonna do with her?

"That's what I thought." I say with a chuckle, trying to cover up my red cheeks. "Was it funny though?" she asked me. "Yeah. Yeah it was." I nod. The two of us shared an honest and genuine laugh. Just then, I could hear faint sounds coming from the next building, causing me to freeze up.

"What is it?" Ellie asked, keeping her voice low. "Tell me that I'm not the only one who heard that?" I ask, keeping my ears open. Ellie waits a minute and listens carefully. She soon looks at me. "I hear it too." she whispered.

After a bit, we see Joel come through a set of double doors, relieving the both of us. "Joel, are you okay? What happened there?" Ellie asked. "More infected; I'm fine." he says, taking off his gas mask.

"Come open the gate for us." I say, standing back up. I get onto the horse again, sitting on the saddle with the reins in my hands. I watch as Joel grabs that generator and drags it over to where there was a loose power cord.

He plugs it in and then starts it up. "Alright, let's try the gate." Joel says. Ellie pressed a green light and the gate started to rise. "You did it!" Ellie laughed, getting onto the horse with me. She sits behind me with her arms around my waist.

We lead the horse out of the gate. Joel then gets on and we start to ride on. "Those infected, you think that they were part of the Fireflies?" I ask. "No, I don't think so." Joel replies. "Why would they have infected so close to the lab?" Ellie asked. "Well, Bill used them as a form of defense, maybe they were doing the same." Joel responded.

We canter around another corner and come across the science lab. There were abandoned tents in the yard of it. There wasn't a single person here other than us. "No guards. No nothing." Ellie said. I look around with a confused look. "Shouldn't there be someone here?" I ask in confusion. "Yeah, there should be." Joel admitted.

Joel got off of the horse so he could look around. I gaze up at the science building for a moment before asking, "Joel, have you ever been to one of these?" "You mean a university?" Joel asked, walking into a tent.

"Yeah." I say. "No, not as a student at least." Joel replied. "Why not?" Ellie curiously asked him. "Um… I had Sarah when I was pretty young." Joel replied, walking out of the tent.

He walked on foot while Ellie and I followed him on the horse.

"Oh…. were you married?" Ellie asked. "For a while…" Joel replied distantly. "What happened?" I ask curiously. "Okay." Joel said, obviously not ready to discuss that yet. "Too much?" Ellie asked. "Too much." he replied.

Joel got back onto the horse and we jumped over another barbed wire barricade. Joel then gets back off the horse as we come across a set of metal doors. "Hey, what about up there?" Ellie pointed out, getting us to look up.

There was a hole in the upper wall that we could use to get inside. "Yeah, that looks like a way in." Joel replies. We all got off the horse so we could figure out a way in. "How're we gonna get in there?" I ask, looking up at the hole. My question had already been answered.

Joel had gotten one of those old dumpster. He started to wheel it down to the gate but ended up losing his grip on it. It crashed into the gate, smashing it open. "Alright, not what I had in mind but it'll do." Joel says, walking through the gate.

Joel gets the dumpster again and pulls it over to another ledge. He climbed up first before Ellie and I followed him. We climb up on another ledge.

Joel climbed into the building then he turned to help Ellie and I up. "Alright, we're in. C'mon, kiddos, give me your hands." Joel said, leaning down to help us up.

Ellie and I grab his hand and he hoists the both of us up. "Let's look around." Ellie said, taking the lead out of the room. "Yeah, they gotta be here somewhere." I say, following her into a hallway.

We came to a balcony that led to another part of the science lab. "Yoo hoo! Fireflies! Cure for mankind over here! Anyone!" Ellie called out, her voice echoing. "We're over here!" I add, cupping my mouth to make my voice louder.

"Let's keep it down until we figure out what's going on." Joel reminded us. We came across a couple of staircases; one went upstairs and the second went downstairs. Ellie and I searched through a large pile of files in hopes of finding something.

"Nothing useful." Ellie said, standing back up. "Ain't nothing here but a bunch of mumbo-jumbo." Joel sighed, holding a file in his hands. "Can't believe there's nothing here." I sigh in defeat.

"Yeah, I don't get it." Ellie sighed. "Looks like they just packed up and left in a hurry." Joel suggested. Then, a loud yet muffled crash from the next floor proved otherwise. "Maybe not all of 'em." Ellie said enthused. "Let's go check it out." I say, starting to head upstairs.

Ellie follows me while Joel follows behind us. We were a few steps ahead of him. The three of us went around another balcony that had a huge tree growing in the middle of the bottom floor. Orange, brown, and yellow leaves had covered the entire balcony, causing them to crunch under our feet.

Ellie opens the next door and we go inside another section. All it had in this section was random desks that were tipped over, some shelves that could be used for cover, and a large stand up light that illuminated the hallway.

"There are no bodies here." Ellie said, observing the section. "That's good, I hope." I add, walking down the corridor. There were small rooms that had some science equipment in them. "If we find out where they went…" Joel replied to us.

As we walk towards an open doorway that was covered by a thin white sheet, something gets knocked over from behind us. The sudden sound startled all of us, getting us to turn around. Out of instinct, I quickly grab Ellie's hand to which she squeezes back.

When we see that it wasn't anything, we walk down the corridor. I was blinded for a minute by a bright white light from another stand up light. We enter another small lab with papers scattered on the floor.

Ellie and I looked through some of the shelves but didn't find anything. Joel meanwhile, had found an old x-ray of someone's fungal growth. It made me wonder if they were trying to find a cure.

Joel goes to the next door and slowly opens the door. "Jesus!" he gasped as he saw a bunch of monkeys in the next room. The monkeys had taken off when they saw him. Ellie and I walk from behind him.

"Well, at least it ain't clickers." Joel says. Ellie kicked a bin that the monkeys were messing with. "Yeah, still no Fireflies though." I sigh, looking around. "Well, maybe in all that research they turned into fucking monkeys." Ellie said, turning towards Joel. "Just keep searching, we'll find something." Joel said, going over to a table.

He picks up a recorder that was sitting on a table. He pressed play and instantly, I heard the sounds of monkeys in the background.

"_That's four palettes of lab equipment all packed up and ready to go. Now- big question is what do we do with you guys. They say the tainted batch needs to be put down. You know what I say? I say screw that. Who made a bigger sacrifice than you, right? If anyone deserves to run free out there it's- Hey, easy! Agh! Shit. Oh no… it bit me. Oh my god…" _

Joel stood back up and put his backpack back on. "I'm sure glad we didn't mess with them monkeys." Joel said. "But he didn't say where they went." Ellie replied. "I know. Let's just keep looking." Joel replied, trying to keep the mood lightened.

Seeing there wasn't anything left for us here, we moved on to the room to our left. There was another door that was blocked off with furniture to which Joel moved so we could get through by using his shoulder. When we walk in, the first thing that we see is a skeleton slouched in a chair with a huge hole in the side of his head.

There was another recorder sitting on the lab table beside the skeleton. Ellie had found a book on the table and sat down on a chair so she could look through it. I lean on her with my right arm so I could also look at it.

"_If you're looking for the Fireflies, they've all left." _a male voice says through the recorder. "Psh, yeah no shit." Ellie said, looking up for a minute. "Yeah, we can see that." I add. "_I'm dead. Or I will be soon. Got me some time to reflect." _the voice continued on.

Joel fast forwards the tape a little bit. "..._been years that felt like we were…" _ Joel fast forwards it again. "_...fucking thing was a giant waste of ti-" _ he fast forwards it again.

"_...not gonna do this anymore…" _ Ellie and I walk over to where Joel was. "C'mon…" Joel says, forwarding the recorder one last time. "_...looking for the others, they've all returned to Saint Mary's Hospital in Salt Lake City. You'll find them there. Still trying to save the world. Good luck with that." _ the recorder finished.

The mention of where the Fireflies were grabbed Ellie and I's attention. We both look at Joel with raised eyebrows. "Do you know where that is?" Ellie asks. "Yeah, I know the city." Joel tells us. "Is it far from here?" I ask. "It ain't close. On horseback-" Joel starts but his eyes drift to the window.

Ellie and I also look out of the window and we see some flashlights outside. "What?" I ask, looking confused for a minute. "Is it Fireflies?" Ellie asked. Suddenly that flashlight turns towards us and Joel pushes us to the floor as a bullet is shot through the window.


	18. Chapter 18 Injured

"Who the fuck are these guys?" Ellie asks as the three of us stay crouched. "Yeah… those crazy fuckers don't know when to quit." I add, keeping my voice low. "It doesn't matter. We know where to go, let's get the hell out of here." Joel replies, pulling out his shotgun.

We move out of that room and start to go back the way we came from. However, a hunter rounds a corner with an ax in his hand. He charged at Joel with the ax raised up. Joel gains the upper hand by using a machete to stab the guy in the torso.

Another guy comes and tries to hit Joel but he grabs the shotgun and blows the guys brains out. We go through the same hallway where a shit ton of more guys came running down the hallway. Ellie and I shot a few men down, killing them.

Ellie had stabbed a guy in the neck three times by jumping on his back. I see her getting grabbed by one of them and come to her immediate aid by stabbing the guy in the eye. He immediately dropped her and I finished him off.

We stealthy made our way down the hallway and back at the staircase that led us up here. At least three more guys run up the stairs. One ended up grabbing me by wrapping his arm around my neck. Ellie comes to my aid by stabbing him in the neck.

Joel had shot down the other two. Joel had run ahead of us while Ellie and I stayed behind to deal with more of the hunters. Suddenly, there was the sound of struggling coming from the balcony area.

Before long, Ellie and I hear the sound of Joel's cry of pain coming from the balcony. The two of us ran towards the sound and were shocked to see Joel laying at the bottom floor impaled by a stray pipe. I felt my skin turn white.

"Oh man…" Ellie says, climbing down from the balcony with me behind her. I was starting to shake in panic when I saw how severe the injury actually was. He had been impaled through his abdomen and was bleeding profusely.

"Joel, what do you want us to do?" Ellie asked in panic. "Move…" he wheezed. We lean closer and try to make out what he is saying. "What?" I ask him. "Move!" he shouted, raising up a bit with his gun aimed at the doors in front of us.

He pushed us aside as two more men bursted through the doors. Joel shot first as one guy came at him with a pipe. Ellie and I kill the other one. We then come back to Joel, not sure of how to help him.

"Joel?" Ellie quivered. "Oh my god…" I say, unable to catch my breath. "I'm gonna need you two to pull." he said, his face twisting at the excruciating pain. Ellie and I look at one another for a minute; I see the sheer panic in her eyes.

"Okay." we say as we each took a hand. "Alright, ready? One, two, three!" Ellie says, starting to pull. I too pull with both of my hands. Joel screamed at the top of his lungs when we pulled him off the pipe.

Once he was off, Ellie and I helped Joel stand up. "Let's get to the damn horse." he tells us, his breathing more labored. "Okay." Ellie says, holding up her pistol. I too held up my pistol, now cautious of the hunters that could still be in here.

"It's all clear. C'mon." I say, looking back constantly to see if Joel was making it. He was limping quite badly as well as bleeding out. We led him to another room that had an open window.

Ellie pushed two boards out of the way. "Can you handle the window?" Ellie asked. "Yeah." Joel replied. He starts to climb over the window but ends up falling to the other side. "Jesus. C'mon, move!" Ellie says as we pull him to a science desk.

Then, a hunter bursted into the room and shot at us twice. Ellie looked up a bit to see where the guy was at. "Alright. Stay here. I'm gonna flank this asshole." Ellie said quietly. "I'm coming too. We're in this together. Let's take the asshole down together." I add. She doesn't argue and we both move forward to sneak up on the bastard.

As the guy was inching his way towards Joel, Ellie and I each took a shot at him. "You little bitches." the guy says, starting to shoot at us. Joel was able to finish him off by shooting him once more.

At that, Ellie and I make our way back over to Joel, who was looking more weaker than before. His skin was starting to become much paler. "We gotta get you out of here." Ellie urged as we helped him to his feet.

"I'm okay…" he says, clearly lying about this. "You're not fucking okay, Joel! Now come on!" I yell, making sure that he was coming. Joel hangs onto the tables as the three of us make our way out of the room.

As we come across another exit, I hear Joel collapse behind us. Ellie and I go back for him and help him back to his feet. "Here, lean on us." Ellie suggests. "No." he refuses, pushing us off.

"Can you walk?" I ask, feeling my heart start to race. "Yes." he replies. "Then fucking walk!" Ellie urged, taking the lead again.

We get to the final room and see the exit in front of us. "There's the exit. Just a little bit more." Ellie said, her voice more panicked. Joel then starts to collapse behind us again as if he was unable to walk anymore.

"Joel!" Ellie and I cry out. "Behind you guys…" he tried to shout but his voice was weakened enough to where we couldn't hear him. I quickly turn around because of footsteps racing towards us. "Ellie!" I cry, turning around with my gun raised.

"Those kids got guns! Watch out!" a hunter shouts racing towards us. "Stay the fuck back!" Ellie cried, shooting at the hunters. "Don't you fucking-!" I shout, shooting them as well.

A hunter had hit me across the face with a pipe as I was trying to reload my gun. My cry of pain alerted Ellie and she shot the guy in the head.

Just as I stand up, another hunter charges at Ellie, knocking her down to her back. "Don't you fucking touch her!" I yell, stabbing the motherfucker in the back, pulling him off of her before stabbing him in the head.

Of course, we didn't have time to thank each other because Joel was on the verge of death and we had to get him the fuck out of this place. We run to Joel and help him stand up, an arm around our shoulders. The walk to the door was a bit slow but it couldn't be helped.

"You're so singing for us after we get you through this." Ellie jokes. "Yeah, it'll be the least you can do." I add. Joel coughs at our joke. "In your dreams." he weakly replies.

We make it to the door and we let Joel lean against a fallen vending machine. Ellie opened the door for us. Joel ends up falling through the last doors and down a small flight of stairs.

Ellie and I follow him outside where we see another hunter trying to steal our horse. Before he could try anything, Ellie and I shot the man dead without question.

"Get the horse…" Joel tells us. I stay with Joel while Ellie goes back for the horse. She brings him over as Joel stands back up. "Can you get on?" Ellie asked, supporting him. He pulls himself up with the little strength he had left. Ellie and I get on after him and we ride off out of there, not looking back.

We'd been riding for a while and it was starting to snow. It was starting to get heavier by the minute. "Are we safe, Ellie?" I ask, trying to slow my heart rate down. She looks behind us and says, "Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

Suddenly, I feel Joel starting to slouch over before falling off the horse. "Joel!" I shout, trying to grab him but it wasn't enough. Ellie and I quickly jump off the horse to help him. We tried to move him but he was too heavy for us to lift.

"Come on! Get up!" Ellie says in hopes of waking him up. "Joel! You can't do this! You gotta tell us what to do!" I cry, starting to panic as his eyes slowly shut.


	19. Chapter 19 Back in a Flash

Joel was bleeding out badly. Ellie and I had to act fast so we had no choice but to bunk down in the nearest building to shelter him in which was a mall. Luckily the door to a shop was open partly so we could get inside. "Enid, get it open! Hurry!" Ellie cried as we approached the door. "Okay!" I reply, sliding off of Callus.

I ran to the door in a foot of snow. The whole time my heart was racing in my chest; thumping against my ribcage like a drum. The panic I was feeling was making me feel numb in my body however, I couldn't let that take control.

It was a bit of a struggle but I managed to get it opened. Luckily, there was little sound coming from the door so nothing would hear us coming in. "Alright, it's open! C'mon!" I say, going inside. Ellie instantly comes inside and I shut the door behind us. There was a loud bang from the door.

Ellie climbs off of Callus, unhooks him, and leads him to the other side of the shop. "C'mon! We gotta find something to patch his wound! C'mon!" Ellie said, sounding like it was hard for her to breathe. I nod and I run over to a stray drawer.

I managed to control my shaking as I roughly pulled each drawer out. We had no luck; it was empty. "Shit! C'mon, give us something!" Ellie exclaims, looking through the drawers. "Fuck!" I scowl, becoming frustrated. After a minute of searching, Ellie finds something that we could use.

"Enid, I found duct tape!" Ellie said to me. I leave the drawer hanging open and run to Joel. He looked pale from the amount of blood he lost. We had to act fast. "Okay, we're gonna put you on your side." Ellie says, pushing him to his left side. He groaned tiredly from the movement.

I carefully pulled up his shirt and jacket so we could look at the wound. "Jesus…" Ellie said breathlessly. There was a hole in his abdomen. That pole had gone clean through him. It made my own stomach churn from how bad it actually was.

"What do we do?" I ask, looking at Ellie for a moment. "We gotta find stitches. There's gotta be some here in this mall." Ellie answers, pulling out her summer shirt from her back pack.

She carefully puts it over his wound, making it bleed through instantly. She puts the duct tape over the shirt to keep it in place. "Okay." Ellie sighs, covering him back up, "That should buy us some time." "Don't worry, we'll find you something to stitch you up." I say to him, having him lay on his back.

"Callus, keep an eye on him." Ellie tells the horse, taking me by the hand. I get up with her and go to the door that would lead us to the other part of the mall. I pull open the vertical door and let Ellie go under first. She holds the door open and looks back at Joel.

"We'll be back in a flash. Promise." she says, setting the door down gently. After it's set down, I put a padlock on the door so it would stay locked while we were away. "We totally got this." Ellie says, turning around to face what was behind us.

The mall we were in was covered in snow that had fallen through the broken ceiling. It was also fucking freezing in there. "Where the fuck do we go?" Ellie asks, looking around. I see an escalator in front of us that looked like it would lead us somewhere.

"Up there. Maybe there's something useful in another one of these stores." I say, pointing at the escalator. "Good call. C'mon." Ellie replies, jogging up to the escalator. I was one step behind her.

The two of us made it to the second story and it was another whole section of the mall. There were old carts sitting here and there, some snow had covered the old, musty, tiles. Some of the posters were so faded out that I couldn't make out what was written on them.

Then, there was the distinct, dreading sound of a clicker in the distance. "Ah shit." Ellie says quietly. "Fucking clicker." I scowled quietly. We jog to another corner where two more stores were present. One was Weston's Pharmacy, and the other was some sort of American Princess store, or some shit like that.

"Westons Pharmacy. Sounds promising, yeah?" Ellie asks me, having her eyes on the open medicine store. "Yeah. It sure does. Let's see what's inside." I say, jogging to the pharmacy. "Yeah, hopefully it hadn't been picked clean." Ellie replies, following behind me.

We make it to the pharmacy and duck under the partially open door. First thing I see is empty shelves upon shelves. Ellie stood on my left side. "Oh shit. It can't be cleaned out." I say, standing straight up again. "Eh, it might not be. Let's look around. If you find anything, tell me." Ellie says, looking at me.

I nodded and jogged over to the wall shelves and even looked under some fallen shelves. "Goddammit, nothing over here." I say, finding nothing. Ellie lets out a sigh at this. Needless to say, we weren't gonna stop there.

"What the hell? Did they just swallow the pills and leave the bottle? God…" Ellie says, holding an empty bottle in her hands. "Well shit. How greedy do these fuckers have to be?" I say, looking through another shelf. "Too greedy if I do say so myself." Ellie replied from the other side of the room. Her voice echoed off the walls.

"Fuck, come on, we don't have time for this shit." I say, still not finding anything. We were both starting to get frustrated because Joel could die if we don't hurry. "Of course, everything is picked clean." Ellie says, coming back over to me. "And here we believed that a pharmacy was supposed to have medicine. What a fucking shocker." I reply, hands on my hips.

We then decide to see what's behind the counter. There was something on the floor that just happened to catch my eye. I picked it up and read what it said, "Please Read! Pharmacist went crazy and attacked me. I hit him pretty hard. He's unconscious. I locked him in the American Princess store next door. Please get him help. Combination 35-30-31."

"Hey, Ellie. Look at this." I say, not looking away from the note. She jogged over to me and saw the note I was holding. "Oh, good find. The pharmacist might have something on him." she said. "Yeah, maybe some medicine." I say, putting the note up.

There was a pair of scissors and some bullets on the floor so we didn't leave this store empty handed. "Look, there's a door." Ellie says, trying to open the back door.

"It's locked. But there's a kit in there." Ellie says, looking through the rectangular window that was in the door. I looked through it and there was in fact a red first aid box just waiting for us to take it. "You're right. But how the hell do we get inside?" I ask. Ellie turned to look at me.

"There's gotta be a key nearby. Maybe that pharmacist has it on him." Ellie says, her hands on her hips. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go." I replied, hopping over the counter while Ellie walked through the opening in the counters.

We went back under the sliding door so we were in the corridors and made it to the princess store. Just as the note said, there was a combination lock on the door. "Take this one, Ellie. You know that I can't work with these types of locks." I ask her. "Oh I know." she said, kneeling down in front of the lock.

I rolled my eyes at this and let her work with the combination lock. As expected, she got it open on her first try. "Well, that worked." she said, pulling the lock off. I helped her open the door, which made a loud sound. However, it was filled with spores.

"Shit, spores." Ellie said, noticing the spores in the air. I quickly put on the gas mask that Tess had given to me many months before. "Holy shit." Ellie said, going under the door. "What?" I ask, breathing heavily as I go under. "You still look creepy with that on." she said, partly joking. "Yeah, I'm right at home." I chuckle, seeing just how dark it was in this store. She chuckled too.

"Think there's anything in here?" I ask, keeping my voice low so it wouldn't draw attention. "If there is, they can go ahead and fucking jump out at us." Ellie replied, remaining crouched. I crouched along with her.

We move through the store. There were spores stuck to the floor and it made the room hard to see. Dolls were left sitting in their glass containers, seeing that no one would pick them up again.

"Gah, yuck." Ellie exclaimed. I glance over and turn on my flashlight. In the corner was the pharmacist. He was covered in spores and cordyceps fungi. He looked like he had turned to a clicker already. It was so disgusting.

"Ah man. Don't come to life. Don't come to life." Ellie prayed, starting to search through his pockets. I crouched down with her. "Found the key." she said, pulling it out of his right pocket. "Awesome, now we're getting somewhere." I say happily. We have the key now we can get to that first aid kit.

Then, the pharmacist's body slouched forward, causing both of us to jump back in fright. "Oh fuck!" Ellie yelped, grabbing a hold of my arm with a semi tight grip. "Son of a bitch!" I growl, irritated by this. We definitely didn't need that.

"Even in death, he's being an asshole." I say, shaking it off. "You got that right." Ellie said, putting the key in her pocket. We start to head out of the store. That was until the sound of more clicking got us to crouch instantly.

"Shit." we both say in sync. There was a clicker outside of the door. It staggered passed us while making that awful clicking sound. I glance at Ellie, who gives me a nod. She'd be the one who would take out the clicker.

She slowly crouches her way to the undetected clicker while I hang back. Taking out her switchblade, she stabs the clicker in the back. It shrieked for a moment before falling to the ground dead. "It's all good." she tells me. I crawl out of the store and take off my gas mask and put it up.

We head back to the pharmacy and head directly to the door. Ellie unlocks it and we get into the next room. "Ah yes." Ellie says, quickly going to the first aid kit. I stand next to her and bend over to observe.

When she opened it, we were angered to see that it was empty. "No." Ellie says, kicking the box away from us. However, we weren't out of luck just yet. I spotted something on the other side of the window that was adjacent to us. "Wait a sec, look Ellie!" I say, seeing a military helicopter hanging off the ledge of this floor.

"Oh, a military helicopter. That's gotta have something." she says, knowing where we had to go next. "Yeah, we'll have better luck with that." I replied to her. We jumped over the window to the next area.

A majority of the floor had already caved in; making some of the area inaccessible to us. Luckily, there was another entrance to another area that was a salon from the looks of it. It had been split off into paths. We took the one that was the most stable.

Snow was covering the floors and the shelves and we had to crawl through another fallen shelf. It had led us over to a more spacious part of the salon. "Yeesh." Ellie shivered. There was a decomposing body sitting against the doorway. There was an open first aid kit sitting next to him. "No sutures." Ellie said, picking up some unused bandages, "We can still use this though." "Yeah, so at least we're getting something useful." I tell her.

We both leave the body and jump over something but I couldn't make out what it was. We had made it over to the other side of the fallen floor. So all we had to do from this point was to jump down to the floor.

"Well, stairs are blocked off. So it looks like we'll have to jump." I say, noticing the stairs being blocked off with a stray gate that had barbed wire on the top of it. "Yeah. Here we go." Ellie says, jumping over the railing and onto the floor below. "Okay, right behind you." I say, jumping down with her.

We were now met with another difficult idea of how to get up to the helicopter.


	20. Chapter 20 So Close

Ellie and I were both conflicted with our next route. Getting up to the helicopter looks like it was gonna be a bit tricky. However, it was our only chance of ever finding any medicine and stitches to help Joel. Who knows how much longer he can hold out for.

"Oh… How the hell do we get up there?" Ellie says, looking up at the helicopter with a hand over her eyes. I started to think of how to make it up there. It wouldn't be easy. "Well, we can't exactly boost each other up there. It's far too tall for us to reach." I point out, just seeing how high that helicopter was from us.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Ellie sighed before turning to look at me, "Let's look around the area. Maybe we'll find a way." "Right. I'll look over here." I tell her, walking off to the right.

The area I was searching looked like a hospital wing for other survivors who had been here long before Ellie and I. It had tarps being held up to signify walls, a few tables that had some old stuff that wouldn't seem useful to us. And even a stretcher that had a severed hand strapped to it.

"Jesus…" I say, seeing the rotting hand. It looked like it had been cut off a person's hand. "What'd you find?" Ellie asks, jogging up to me. She then saw what I saw and gave the same reaction as me. Before walking off, I find a note laying on the floor. I picked it up and held it gently in my hands so we could both read it.

"With supplies running low, Private Eugene Ellis and I entered the loading dock in hopes of procuring additional rations. We were caught off guard when a group of roughly half a dozen Stage 2s attacked us.

We neutralized the threat but not before Ellis was bitten.

After a long heated debate - where Private Ellis tried taking his own life - I incapacitated him. I then took it upon myself to break protocol. I isolated the infection with a tourniquet. I gathered and cleaned a surgical saw from the abandoned triage. I injected Private Ellis with morphine before amputating his arm several inches above the bite. I'm confident that once the private regains consciousness he'll be clear of the Cordyceps Infection. Captain Regen Francis"

"Shit…" Ellie said with sadness. "That's fucking awful." I say, putting the note in my messenger bag. "Yeah it is." Ellie replied. I can't even begin to imagine having to cut off someone's limb like that. It makes me glad that Ellie's immune because I wouldn't even have the heart to bring pain to the only other person that I love. But at the same time, it would only hurt them if I didn't.

"C'mon, I found a way up to the helicopter." Ellie said, taking me by the hand. She led me to a gated doorway that would be our way up there. "Aw fuck yes. Great find." I say, satisfied. She tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. "Agh, of course. Locked by the fuckin' military." I say in partial frustration. "Yeah, really. There's gotta be a way to get this on." Ellie replied, her eyes trailing from the door to a long cable attached to it.

"Follow the cables. Right, Joel?" Ellie said, starting to follow the cables. "Yeah, the source of the power has to be down there." I say, following close behind her. We follow the cables through a set of opened double doors and into a dark corridor with some boxes in it.

"Jesus, I have an uneasy feeling." I say, feeling my body shiver. My entire body gave one huge jerk because of a chill running up my spine. "Yeah, I do too." Ellie says, pulling out her pistol. I do the same and hold it in my right hand a bit tightly.

We jumped over a box and were immediately scared by a damn cat, who just happened to jump from the inside of a box. "Oh god! Fucking cat." Ellie groaned. We took a right turn, which was another long corridor. At the end of it was water.

"Hey, look." I say, seeing another set of double doors. "Good call." Ellie nodded, going to the door. We both tried opening it however, something was blocking it. "Well shit. Guess we'll have to take the long route." Ellie says, moving away from the door. "Right. I really thought that would get us somewhere. I don't want to go in the water." I say, jogging behind her. "Well, you're not the only one but it looks like we don't have a choice." Ellie replied.

The second we made contact with the water, I let out a yelp. It was so cold. "Oh my god that's freezing." Ellie shivered, jumping over an obstacle. "Oooh thank god it's not deep." I say, holding my arms up above the waist deep in water.

I jumped over the obstacle with her and was met with a second heart attack by that same damn cat. "Fucking hell! If that cat scares us one more time, I'm gonna shoot him and make him our dinner." I growl, irritated. "Oh man. I'm right there with ya. Looks like it's trying to kill us." Ellie agrees with me.

The next area we came into looked like a loading dock with at least three trucks in it. There was still water covering the whole floor that had gone down to our knees. It didn't take us long to find a generator that could be the source of the power that would help us move on. We make our way up to where the generator is and Ellie tries to turn it on.

"Here we go. End of the line." she says, taking a hold of the cord and giving it a pull. But it didn't do anything. "The hell? What's going on with it?" I ask, walking up to it. "Let's have a look here." Ellie replied, opening the cap and taking a peek inside. "It's outta juice." she said to me. "Well damn it. Looks like we gotta find some gas. There could be some in these trucks." I say, finding one of those gas containers sitting by a fence.

I let Ellie hold the jerry can while I held the hose that was with it. When we jumped into the water, the sound of stalkers echoed through the loading dock. "Oh shit! Stalkers!" Ellie says, pulling out her loaded pistol. "On your right!" I yell, seeing a stalker ambushing Ellie. She didn't have time to shoot it and was grabbed by it.

Instantly, I take my knife out and go to stab the fucker in its eye. "Get the hell away from her, you fucker!" I yell, driving my knife deep into its eye in order to kill it. I pull my knife out and it falls dead into the water. "Thanks." Ellie said, holding her pistol out. "No problem." I replied, facing the other way so I could shoot more.

"I got you covered." Ellie says, ready to fight against more. "Right, and I've got yours." I reply, partly looking at her. Just then, at least 4 more make their appearance. Luckily for us, we were able to gun them down.

I was grabbed a couple of times by two of them however, Ellie saves me by either putting a bullet into it's fungi covered head or she stabbed the hell out of it. Afterwards, we went to find ourselves some fuel so we could get to the next area. We've gotten no luck with two out of the three trucks in here.

"Ah, jackpot." Ellie said, sniffing the opened gas tank. "Three times a charm as they say." I say, handing her the siphoning hose. "Hell yes. Now, how is this done?" Ellie asks, putting the hose in the filled gas tank. "Looks like you gotta siphon it out." I reply, my hands on my knees to observe.

She does just that by trying to suck out some of the gas, which she immediately spits out in disgust. "Guessing it doesn't taste that good." I say, chuckling a bit. "Ugh, no it doesn't. Be happy you're not doing this." she groans, letting the gas fill up the jerry can.

Once it was filled up, we made our way back over to the generator so we could fill it up. Ellie fills it up as full as it would get and tosses the jerry can aside. "Alright. That should work." she said, taking a hold of the power cord. "Fire it up." I say, feeling accomplished. She pulls it at least three times and the generator begins to run.

"Fuck yes!" Ellie says, giving me a double high five. "Now we're finally getting somewhere." I say, accepting her high five. Our celebration was short lived by two more stalkers making their way over to us.

"Oh fuck!" we say in sync. We thought that we were fucked but a cord from the ceiling ended up falling into the water, electrocuting both infected at the same time. The water was now dangerous to walk in because we'd be fried instantly. "Let's make a note about the water." I say. "Yeah, don't touch electric water." Ellie adds, going to the fenced off ladder that would take us up.

She opens the gate and goes up a ladder and I follow behind her. We were on a ventilation system which would lead us to another set of open doors. Staying crouched, we follow the vents to the other side of the room.

However, I end up taking the wrong step and slide off the vent. "Shit! Ellie, help!" I cried, hanging off the edge so I was dangling above the electrified water. She immediately turned around and helped me back up.

"Holy shit, are you okay?" she asks me. "Other than nearly falling to my death, I'm fine." I say out of breath. She sighed in relief. I would hate to have to leave her like that. We finish our descent to the other side.

When we made it, we were met with two more doors that looked like they could lift upwards. "Shit, the doors over there. But how will we make it?" I ask, unable to find us a way through. "Maybe we can use these doors to help us across." Ellie says, looking at the doors. "Ah okay. Now that the power is running, we can get them open." I reply, going to the door on the left. Ellie goes to the one on the right.

Both doors opened with ease and it showed us what was inside. "Do you think that they're stable enough?" I ask. "Yeah, maybe. Let's try it out." Ellie replies, climbing on a box. She tried to walk on the door but it immediately closed and she fell to the floor.

"Oh shit!" I exclaim, coming to her aid. "Ow… son of a bitch." she groaned. "You okay?" I asked, helping her to her feet. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. But it looks like we'll need something to hold it up." she replied, dusting off her jacket. I nod in agreement and walk into the left door while Ellie opened up the right one again.

We put a huge palette that was on wheels underneath the door which held it up perfectly. The two of us climbed up to a second thing of air ducts so we could reach another set of double doors that would take us to the next area. "Talk about team work there." I say, landing beside Ellie. "Fuck yeah. Now, let's get to that helicopter." Ellie replies with enthusiasm.

I open the door to the next area and the two of us immediately hear more infected on the other side. "Fuck, do you hear that?" Ellie whispered, crouching down. "Yeah, sounds like a lot of them." I replied, crouching with her. Ellie suggests that we should see how many there are before we fight them.

I nod at this and slowly crouch walk into the next store, which looked like a pet store. Carefully, I turned a corner and saw a single runner by small cages, hunched over while making those weird moaning noises. Luckily, he didn't see us.

From what we could hear, there were at least 7 or 8 infected in the store. We make our way back to the loading dock to keep out of sight. "Okay, there's at least eight of them. Let's use our knives to take them out." Ellie said to me quietly.

"Good plan. And if things go haywire…" I say, pulling out my knife. "We shoot them in the head." Ellie replies, rescuing the conversation. We give each other a thumbs up before putting our plan into action. I make a head motion towards the doorway to let Ellie know to go first. She nods and goes forward as quietly as she could.

Ellie stabs the first runner in the head stealthily and crouches back down just as a clicker was stumbling its way in here. I waited until the clicker had its back turned towards us and took the opportunity to strike. I stabbed it in the back at least 4 times before it fell dead.

I find a couple of items sitting on the shelves and grab them. Ellie makes her way over to me and we both hide inside of a small room so we could listen to the infected whereabouts. Ellie quickly crafts a nail bomb and holds it in her hand.

I nod and watch as she tosses it over the window sill. The noise got the infected attention and it immediately exploded upon contact. I peeked over and saw that it took out at least four of them, leaving at least three left.

We would stealthily take them out. Quietly, we went into the pet store. There were three runners who were hunched over with their backs turned towards us. One by one, we take them out with our knives.

"Alright. Let's look around." Ellie says, standing back up. "Right." I replied, walking around the store to see if there was anything useful. Luckily, there was. I picked up half a bottle of alcohol, a pair of scissors, and some bandages. "Ellie, did you find anything?" I ask, walking to another sliding door.

"Yeah, a bandage and a box of ammo." she answers, jogging over to me. "Sweet. How many are there?" I ask. "Um, about 5 or 6." she answers, giving me three of the bullets. I refill my gun and she refills hers. Looks like we both made off with some good shit.

Ellie opens the gated door partly so I could go under. Once I was, I took ahold of the door so she could get under.

We were now back in the snow covered courtyard that we first started in. "Here we are again." Ellie says, starting to jog forward. "Now we'll be able to get to the helicopter." I tell her. Just then, there was clicking coming from the other side of the courtyard.

"Goddammit, where the hell are they coming from?" Ellie scowls quietly, crouching down. More clickers walked out from behind a wall. Luckily, there were only two of them so it wouldn't be that much of an issue.

I pulled out a molotov that I happened to make a while back so it would be easier to kill them. Ellie picks up a stray bottle and throws it to the middle of the courtyard, instantly grabbing the clicker's attention. Once they were in a group, I tossed the lit molotov as hard as I could and it hit one of the clickers, immediately catching on fire.

The other was quickly caught on fire. It takes them about a few seconds before they both die. "Whoo. That was close." I say, standing up. "You got that right." Ellie replies. We both jog to the power operated gated door.

"This door better fucking work." Ellie says, pressing the button again. It made a noise, indicating that it had opened. "Oh fuck yeah!" We say in sync, giving each other a high five yet again.

Once it was open, we jogged up the broken escalator so we were on the next floor. There was a small tent with some left over stuff in it. We decided to search through it and find nothing but a recorder that had a few blood stains on it. Ellie holds it and presses the play button. Out came a woman's voice.

"Well Ellis? I found a couple recorders. Maybe we can, you know, document this whole thing. It gives me an excuse to talk, even if it is to myself. You hit me pretty hard the other night. Not gonna lie, that shit still stings. I was trying to feed you. You actually accused me of stealing your food. You got any idea how hungry I am? I mean, I know it's the fever talking, but… I left you, you know? Hell, I even managed to get a good ten miles out before turning back around. It's like you say. We sleep together, we eat together, we shit together. This unit is a family, so no, no. I'm not going anywhere. God, just let him pull through. This thing is stupid."

The recording ended and there was no sound but the wind again. Sounds to me that guy who had his arm amputated was still infected and nothing could be done to save him. He went crazy on this woman and things went to shit from that point on.

Hopefully, it doesn't come to that with Joel, Ellie, and I. It's a scary thought that I don't want to think about. Afterwards, we turn around and head towards the helicopter. There was glass that was frozen over. It was our only way to get in the helicopter.

"I'll go first. You follow behind me." Ellie says as she looks at me. "Okay. Right behind you. Please be careful." I remind her. "You too." she repeats, climbing onto the glass. It instantly began to crack underneath our feet.

"Oh fuck… okay be cool. Just be cool." Ellie nervously says, carefully walking across the glass. We make it to the entrance and have no choice but to jump into it. "Okay, I'll go first and I'll catch you." Ellie tells me. "Okay." I replied, keeping my arms up a little so I didn't lose my balance.

She makes a jump into the helicopter and turns around to catch me. Once I made it, we both felt the helicopter starting to give way from the loose ledge. "Oh shit!" Ellie exclaims, sliding down to the other side. "Ellie!" I cry, grabbing onto the seat of the chopper. It settled down and I let out a scared breath.

"Whoa, you okay?" she asks me, pulling herself up. "Oh… yeah. Yeah I'm good. You?" I ask, shaking a bit. "I'm fine." she replied, helping me up. Just then, the very item we were looking for was in fact sitting there by the passenger seat.

We crawl to it and Ellie takes it in her lap. "Oh please be in here. Please be here." she begs, opening the first aid kit. Our hearts leaped with joy and relief when we saw that everything we needed to save Joel was in here. "Oh fuck yes. We did it." I say with a sigh.

We hug each other tightly in happiness before she hugs the kit close to her chest. "We're not letting you go… we're not letting you go." she said, closing her eyes. I close my eyes and lean against Ellie's shoulder. Thank god we finally found what we needed. Now we can save Joel's life.


	21. Chapter 21 Enemy of my Enemy

I hadn't realized that we both fell asleep in that helicopter. I guess we were both so relieved that we had found the right sutures that it caused us to formally relax. A single gunshot made us open our eyes. It wasn't Joel behind that single gunshot.

"Enid, we gotta get back to Joel!" Ellie cried, raising up quickly to put the kit in her backpack. "Oh shit, you're right." I say, quickly getting to my knees. I jump out of the helicopter first and into the snow below. Ellie jumps out next and landed on her knees. "Ellie!" I say, coming back to her. "I'm fine. I'm fine." she said, pushing herself back up to her feet. There was no time to waste; we had to get a move on.

We jogged down another corridor where an old record store was sitting in front of us. As cool as that sounds, we didn't have time to gaze around for any cool old music. Ellie jumped over a short wall and I followed behind her.

The second we get on the other side, the sound of both hunters and clickers filled the air. "Oh shit. Behind here." Ellie whispered, getting behind another short wall. I hide with her and let the fighting commence between the hunters and clickers.

"What's goin' on?" I ask in a low whisper, unable to see by the wall. "They're killing each other." Ellie replies in a low voice. Then, two seperate bows slid over to us and we instantly took them so we could do our stealth kills from afar.

I pulled back the string on the bow and it was in sturdy condition. "What the hell?" One hunter says. "Just relax." Another says quietly. Another yelled from the other side, indicating that there was at least three there.

"What the hell are we doing here? Who gives a fuck about that old man and two little girls?" the second man says, making me freeze. Ellie glances back at me with the same shocked look as me. The hunters know we're here.

"The sooner we find them the sooner we get outta here. Make sure this area's clear." the first hunter tells his friends. They told each other where to check meaning that it would give Ellie and I the chance to take them out one by one.

Ellie and I carefully crouch walked our way into the record store without those motherfuckers noticing us. My heart was beating out of my chest like a drum against my ribcage. These guys were gonna kill us if they found us. So we can't leave any of them alive.

I crept behind one guy who was wearing a dirty green winter coat with my knife drawn, the blade out. I use my strength to jump on the fucker and I stab him in the eye from behind. He, of course, yells out from the sudden pain but I quickly stab him in his throat with the blade pushed all the way in.

The guy gurgled from choking on his own blood before falling dead. I hear Ellie take out another guy by jumping on him and stabbing him multiple times in his chest. Since she was at the other end of the store, I couldn't see her from where I was at.

Just then, I see an arrow fly into the final guys head, killing him instantly. Afterwards, Ellie and I catch up with one another. "We're coming to get you Joel. These guys want a fight, let's fucking give them one, Enid." Ellie tells me, picking some bullets up from the guys that we just killed.

"Fuck yes. Let's stitch Joel up and then get the hell out of here." I reply, taking a few arrows from another dead guy. Ellie agrees with me on this. We've overstayed our welcome in this place. I didn't want to come here to begin with.

There was an air duct that was big enough for the two of us to crawl through. There was a trail of old blood on the walls and it went into the air duct. Ellie goes first with me right behind her.

"Agh, which way?" Ellie mumbles, trying to figure a way out of this. These were a long tunnel of mazes. We continued to follow the blood. It had come to a stop to a dead body just sitting at the end of the air duct. It had an arm missing; just like the hand that we saw back in the courtyard.

We moved forwards and head downwards into another clothing shop. We were both met instantly with clickers but were lucky to hide from them. "Anyone check in here?" a hunter says from a distance. "Oh fuck these guys." Ellie whispered. "Getting fucking tired of them." I say in a whisper.

Then, an idea sparked in my head. I did pay attention to what Ellie said about the infected and the hunters killing each other back there. I quietly picked up a stray brick that was where we were.

"Ellie, I got an idea." I tell her, having her turn around to face me. "What?" she said intrigued. "They don't know we're here. Let's throw the bricks or bottles to get them to kill each other?" I suggest. She quickly glances over the edge a small bit.

"Yeah, let's do it. Plus, it'll make things easier for us." Ellie said, picking up a brick of her own. With one more look, we toss our bricks over at the hunters. "Who the fuck did that?" one said. Then there was the loud sound of both gunshots and the snarls of the infected as they were biting the hunters. Everyone was dead except for Ellie and I.

"That was a good idea, Enid. With that technique, we'll surely make it back to Joel before anything else happens." Ellie says, searching around the store. "Aren't you glad that I'm with you? Surely you would never come up with that idea of your own." I replied, teasing her. "Oh hardy har." she chuckles, "Let's look around."

I do so by looking through some old drawers by one of those things where people would put money in for safe keeping. There was another pair of scissors, a quarter of a bottle of alcohol, and some single bullets for our pistols.

We then left the store and made it into another hallway where our way to Joel was right there in front of us. Unfortunately, that would be considered the easy way because it was blocked off by another one of those heavy metal gates. Neither of us could squeeze through it.

"So close. We need another way around." Ellie tells me. "How about through there?" I say, pointing up to some rubble with a ledge that we could climb through. "Okay, let's do it." Ellie replies, seeing the entry too.

I climbed up on it first to see what was on the other side. It was another store from the looks of it. I turn back around and help Ellie over. We drop down into the store.

The second we do, we ended up coming across a shit ton of infected. We let out a gasp at the amount on the other side of this store. The two of us crouch down immediately and hide behind a wall on the lower part of the store.

Just then, hunters also appeared through a sliding door. Ellie grabbed my freezing bare hand and pulled me back from view. I found another stray bottle next to my foot and I picked it up. Looking at Ellie, she was holding one too. We both had the same idea.

"Hey. What'd you guys find outside?" one hunter asks. "Not a damn thing." another says. "How do we know they're here?" a third guy asks. They were getting closer to us. "We walked around this entire place. There's horse tracks leading in, none coming out. They're here." the first guy replies. That's when we throw the bottles across the room.

It instantly got the infected's attention and they went after the hunters. Ellie and I listened as the fuckers were killing each other. Just as we wanted.

The infected were all down but a couple of the hunters were still alive. We both kill them with our arrows. "Okay, that's all of them." Ellie says. "Good. We need to get out of here." I reply, looking around for supplies. I find some bullets from the hunters as well as arrows.

There was a large gaping hole in the ceiling so we went up through there and was met with another garage door. I lifted up the door wide enough for Ellie to get through. Once she does, she holds the door open for me and I get through.

We were back at the same statue that held a bow and arrow pointed at the ceiling. It was a sign that we were going the right way. We took a left and were instantly met with a dead guy that had at least 6 arrows laying with him.

Ellie handed me three and she took three to hold us over. "Hey! I hear the fuckin' horse behind here! Help me get this open." a hunter says, his voice echoing. "Yeah, yeah. We'll get the door. You guys keep searching. I don't want to get ambushed." another says. Ellie and I glance at each other for a minute.

"Ellie, they're gonna get him." I whisper to her. "Oh man, we gotta do something. Fast." she replies, taking out her pistol and she reloaded it. "I got your back." I tell her, wielding my bow and arrow.

"Right, we stick together. No one's gonna get Joel while we're here." Ellie replies, taking me by my hand. Ellie takes one hunter down with her bow and arrow, making him fall dead instantly. "Get those kids and find the old man. I'll go for the door." the first hunter says, trying his damndest to bust the lock.

Ellie and I hugged the wall that was next to the edge and we both took out the fucker who was messing with the lock. We had to make it downstairs. There was no time to lose. "Shit! Those girls are out here! What about the old man?" a hunter yells. "I don't know. Keep an eye out." his friend says.

We made it to another room and hid behind another wall. I was trailing a bit behind Ellie and didn't hear anything from behind us. "There you are, you little shit!" a guy growls, running up to Ellie and I. I end up getting grabbed by the fucker with his arm around my neck. Ellie immediately hears this and comes to save me.

"Get off of her, you fuck!" she yells, stabbing the guy in the neck. He lets go of me and I back up with a set of coughs. "Are you okay?" Ellie asks me. "Yeah, yeah I'm good." I reply, crouching down.

"I'll take the door! You find those girls!" another hunter directs, hitting the padlock. We are then ambushed by two others, who were carrying molotovs. Before they could throw them, Ellie and I quickly moved out of the way just as they hit the ground.

I raise up with my gun and shoot the man in between his eyes, killing him instantly. Ellie takes on the other one with her gun. Afterwards we moved down a set of stairs while staying crouched because there were two more guys still down there.

Ellie puts a bullet into the fucker that was trying to break the padlock, shooting him in the back of the head. I take his friend out with my gun and kill him by shooting him in the eye. Those were the last ones.

"That's that." Ellie sighs, standing up straight. "Hopefully that's all of them." I say, looking around the plaza. "It better be. Let's get to Joel." Ellie replies, bending down to unlock the door.

Suddenly, a loud gunshot made both of us jump. Someone had shot at us. Ellie takes my hand and we hide behind a large crate. "Down there! By the door!" a hunter yells. "Fuck you!" Ellie and I yell in sync. I look at Ellie for a minute before reloading my pistol. "Fine, they want to do this? Let's fucking do this." Ellie says, making a run for it to get behind cover again. I don't hesitate to follow.

"Those girls are heading for the stairs!" Another guy informs. We got behind the stairs and kept out of sight. Ellie peeked from the corner and told me that she didn't see any guys on this floor which sent chills up my spine. "They might be upstairs." I whisper to her.

Ellie doubted that and threw a nail bomb out in the open. It drew the attention of at least 5 guys. When they got about 3 feet from it, the bomb exploded, killing every single one of them. "They're down here!" another guy yelled.

"Oh fuck." Ellie scowled under her breath"How many bullets do you got left?" "About 6. You?" I ask, holding my pistol tightly in my hands. "About the same. Let's show these fuckers who they're messing with." Ellie replied, determined to get through this. "I'm right there with you." I nod, ready to fight.

We got from behind cover and began having a shootout with the remaining fuckers, who were shooting at us. Our limited amount of ammo managed to kill every single one of these guys, including some infected that showed up at the last minute. There were a total of 10 men and 5 infected.

Once everybody was down, we started to pick up their left over supplies. With a huff, Ellie shouts, "That's it. If anyone's alive, don't even think about surprising us!" "If you do, you will end up like your fucking friends. You hear us? Yeah?" I shout, giving a warning to any ear who would be listening.

"Okay, I think we're good." Ellie pants, kneeling down to unlock the door. Once it was open, we immediately got inside and shut the door behind us. Joel was in the same position as we left him in.

He was still breathing which relieved Ellie and I. She takes the health kit out of her back pack and gets those sutures out. "You do this, Ellie. I don't know how this is done." I tell her, kneeling next to her.

"Okay, I've done this before. I'm kind of an expert-ish." she breathed, holding the needle and thread in her hands. I see that her hands start to shake a bit. She was nervous about this. I put my hand over hers to calm her down. "Just stay calm. You got this." I tell her softly. She looked at me for a moment and grinned some.

Ellie stitches Joel's wound up as good as she could get it. After that, I help her tie him down to a makeshift sled with blankets to keep him covered. We then tie him to Callus and mount the horse with Ellie in front. I stay behind her with my arms around her waist. We glance back at Joel for just a moment before looking at each other and give each other a nod. Then, Ellie gets Callus to move and we walk back into the cold, snowy outside.

We weren't out of the woods yet. Joel was still in dire need of our help. We're not going to give up on him. We can't give up on him.


	22. Chapter 22 Once Bitten

Ellie and I had spent the early morning getting something for us to eat while Joel was on bed rest. The weather seemed to drop temperature overnight and the wind frosted my pale cheeks. Lucky for us, there was no infected which is always a plus while hunting. The two of us had ridden on callus to get to where we needed to go faster.

I kept my pistol loaded in my pocket and my bow and arrow ready to go. So far, we haven't caught anything. The only sounds that entered my frost bitten ear was our breathing, the soft breeze blowing by us and our footsteps walking and crunching on the fresh snow.

While Ellie tied Callus to a tree so he couldn't run off, I looked around and thought of something. "Hey Ellie?" I say, getting her attention. "Yeah?" She replied, still tying callus up. "I don't see anything around here. Look, I know this may sound fucking dumb but, what if we split up? I mean, we'd have a better chance of finding something." I suggested. She stopped tying and looked at me with a look of slight disbelief.

"Enid, I don't want to take a chance of..." She started hesitantly. I only hugged her to get her to stop talking. My slightly warm hands touched her frost covered jacket. She doesn't hesitate to hug me back, digging her frigid fingers in my back worn out hoodie. From the way she hugged me, she didn't want me to leave her side.

"Don't worry, Ellie. Look, as I said before, it seems idiotic but we might do better splitting up." I said, still hugging her. I feel her sigh under my arms in defeat. "Okay. But if anything happens, just shout for me. The last thing I want is to lose you. But, I'll take your word for it, Enid. Please be careful." She tells me, breaking the hug.

We just looked at each other and I smiled. "I will. Besides, when am I not?" I say, giving a joke. She cracked a grin and socked me playfully. "This is why you're my friend. Always a wiseass." She chuckled, giving me a two finger salute as she walked back to callus. I smirk and pull out my bow and arrow and begin to walk the opposite direction. Not long after, I regret not staying with Ellie.

I hear the sound of fresh snow being crunched under my feet as I jog through the woods. I made it at least 20 or so feet away from where Ellie was. There wasn't anything worth eating. "Come on Enid... Put your hunting skills to the test. We can't afford to go back empty handed." I whisper to myself, seeing my breath as I exhaled.

I knew I had to bring back something worth eating; maybe a couple of rabbits if I'm lucky. Sighing, I climbed on a snowy rock that had a good height for me to have a vantage point.

I listened as hard as I could for any movement; my bow and arrow was lowered. For a moment, all I heard was the sound of the cold wind. I then spot something no less than a few feet from me.

I was happy when I saw what it was. It was a grey rabbit. "Perfect." I whisper, crouching down so it wouldn't see me. I aim my bow and arrow and close one eye. I then fired the arrow and it went straight through the rabbits neck, killing it instantly. "Fuck yes." I say, jumping down from the rock.

Judging by its size, it would be enough to hold us over for a couple of days. I picked it up by its neck hide and pulled out my arrow. It was a clean shot. "Oh, Ellie will be happy when she sees this." I say to myself with satisfaction.

I tied the rabbit to my backpack so I could continue to hunt. Not five minutes later, there was more movement. Instantly, I get down to the ground and take cover behind a rock. I carefully peaked around the rock and was ready to kill whatever made the sound.

To my surprise, I see it wasn't a rabbit, or any wild animal that I know of. It was a dog. A big dog that had a faded blue collar. He looked thin as if he hadn't eaten in a few weeks. His fur was the color of tan with a dark mask.

Slowly, I walked from behind the rock and lowered my weapon. "Oh… hello there boy." I say calmly. The dog's ears rose at my voice and he glanced at me. "It's okay, boy. I won't hurt you." I say, kneeling down to my knees and held out my hand to see if he was friendly.

He sniffed my hand hesitantly and whined. I wasn't sure if he liked to be petted so I didn't even try it. "Are you hungry? You look like you haven't eaten in a while." I say, getting him to tilt his head as if he was trying to understand.

But he only gave a couple of barks to answer me. "I thought so. How about you help me and my friend find some food?" I ask, getting him to wag his long tail. I chuckle and stand back up.

I walk about 20 more steps with the dog walking beside me. Making it to a hill, I crouched down and looked around. The dog stopped beside me and sniffed the air. "Do you see anything, boy?" I wonder, still looking around. As if on cue, the dog started growling at something. He then takes off running while barking.

"Hey, wait up!" I shout, running after him. I see that he had found another rabbit and had already killed it. "Wow, good boy. Good boy. I owe you one." I chuckle, walking over to get the rabbit from him.

However, he only backed away from me. "C'mon boy. I have to have that. I'll split it with you." I say, reaching out my hand. He started to growl at me. "C'mon, drop it." I tell him. He didn't listen to me. "Don't eat it all!" I yell, snatching the rabbit out of his mouth.

At that moment, I didn't realize the huge mistake that I had just made. The dog suddenly started snarling at me with his teeth showing. My stomach instantly twisted with dread and fear when I saw his demeanor change from friendly to aggressive.

He then leaps at me with his mouth wide open and his sharp teeth showing. I then feel him sink his teeth into my forearm with tremendous force. I cry out from both shock and searing pain as he pulls me to the ground. He gets on top of me and bites down on my exposed arm yet again.

My heart was racing from sheer terror and I yelled out in panic as I fought the vicious animal off. The animal's tense muscles rippled powerfully and the frothing slobber was flung around in the air like slime as the dog moved its head around with a furious speed, growling like a mad animal.

I used all of my strength to punch the dog in his eyes but that didn't do anything. I couldn't kick him because he was out of my feets reach. The only thing I could do was to kill him.

My knife was still in my pocket therefore I knew I had to grab it. I didn't want to kill this dog that I believed to be so friendly but I had no choice.

The second I got a good hold on the handle of my knife, I swung the knife and stabbed the dog directly in the head, killing it instantly. The attack had finally killed him, leaving me in a state of panic. With my good arm, I push the now dead dog off of me. I yank my blood soaked knife from its head.

I quickly back up with my good arm tightly gripping my knife.

I was out of breath and I tried catching it. What the fuck just happened? He was only hungry. If I hadn't taken that rabbit from him, I wouldn't have gotten bit by him.

I feel my whole arm burning like fucking fire. I can't describe just how much it was hurting at this moment in time. Even moving it an inch was agony. My blood dropped from my torn arm. I had to cover it with my sleeve. Once I did, I whimpered from the horrendous pain and held my arm gently.

"Oh shit... Shit... I gotta get to Ellie." I pant, feeling sick from the intense pain. I can't sit here any longer. Ellie had to know what happened. Therefore, I struggle to push myself up to my feet. Groaning, I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut to keep myself from screaming. "Fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck..." I growl through my clenched teeth.

Once I did get myself up to my feet, I was instantly met with double vision. It made it hard to see where I was fucking going. I keep my hurt arm close to my chest as I trudge along the snow. I didn't pick up my feet as I walked. I had left a blood trail behind me.

My breaths became heavier and my heart started to slow. It felt like I was going to pass out. But I couldn't; I had to find Ellie. She was the only one who could help me.

Just about 10 minutes later, I could barely make out the form of Ellie just up ahead. "E-Ellie..." I pant, stumbling towards her. I felt so sick that I couldn't think or see straight. I closed my eyes and tried my damnedest to not throw up. My legs felt like noodles and I couldn't walk anymore. I fall to my knees and groan sickly.

"Oh my god, Enid! What the fuck happened?" Ellie asked in panic, noticing that my entire hand and arm was covered in blood. I open my eyes and see her in front of me. She saw the sickly look on my face. "Fucking... Dog... Attacked me. God, I feel like I'm going to pass out." I say in between pants.

I then feel her pull back my sleeve, causing me to wince loudly. She saw the torn flesh and bite marks on my arm. Through my blurred vision, I could see that my whole arm was covered in blood, some of which was dripping onto the snow.

"Fuck, we gotta get you back to camp. C'mon." She said immediately as she used my good arm to hold me up. We begin to move to where Callus was. I closed my eyes and breathed heavily. It was starting to get profusely worse by the second.

"C'mon, listen to my voice. Can you hear me?" Ellie says to me, making sure I was still conscious. "Y-yeah..." I replied weakly. "Please don't pass out on me. We're going to get you fixed up. It's gonna be okay." She assured me calmly.

Even though I was disoriented, I knew she was faking it. She was scared. "Ellie... you're... agh… fucking scared. Don't lie to me." I say, trying to joke my way out of this. But it was obvious that it wasn't working.

"No shit I am. Splitting up was a bad idea." she replied, feeling terrified. We make it back to the horse. "Can you get on?" she asks me. It took me a minute to answer her because the dizziness in my head was making it hard to do so.

"I think so..." I reply, trying to breathe. I tried to mount Callus but I failed instantly. "Agh-ow! Fuck!" I yell, falling off into the snow. "Here, I'll help you." Ellie said, helping me to my feet. She locked her fingers together and I set my foot in it to help me up. It worked this time and I groaned sickly.

Ellie then mounts on Callus so that she is sitting in front of me. "Are you okay?" she asks, turning her head to look at me. I let my body lean against her back, feeling weaker by the second. "Yeah... just tired. That's all." I moan, trying to stay awake. I was starting to feel lightheaded and very dizzy. "Are you sure?" she says. "Yeah... don't worry about..." I started but I felt my whole body become heavy and my heart slowed. That's when darkness took me.

(Ellie's POV)

"Oh, shit!" I say, jumping off of Callus to help Enid. She had passed out from the bite on her arm. She was heavy when I picked her up off of the snow; meaning she was out cold. I knew splitting up was a bad idea.

Enid had turned super pale from the loss of blood so I had to act quickly. I couldn't lose her. I refuse to lose her. I managed to get her to the house that we were keeping Joel in while he was healing from his wound.

There were still supplies that I could use to stitch up her arm and by looking at the bite, it looked to be just enough to fix it. "Don't worry, Enid. I'm gonna get this fixed up. Gonna get it fixed up…" I say, feeling panicked a bit.

Making it back to the house, I helped Enid down into the basement to where Joel is. He was sleeping so I didn't have to worry about him right now. I set Enid's unconscious body against the wall and she slumped over some. Her injured arm was still bleeding profusely so I had to act fast.

"Don't worry. You're gonna be okay. I promise." I assure as I dug through my backpack for stitches and a needle. I did end up finding those stitches and a needle as well as peroxide and bandages. I could fix Enid up while she's unconscious.

"Fuck. I hope you don't wake up while I do this." I say, having her arm over my lap. I poured some peroxide over the bite and it instantly started to sizzle as well as bubble up meaning it was cleaning it. I'm glad she's not awake because she would've screamed if she was.

Satisfied, I set the peroxide aside so I could clean the blood off with a rag. Once cleaned up, I saw the extent of the damage. My initial thought was, 'Holy shit. How the fuck did this happen?' But I knew I had to remain calm while stitching her arm up.

I take the needle and stitch and begin working on her arm. It was easier than I thought it was going to be. The wound was closed up but it would leave a huge scar from her wrist to her elbow. It was a nasty looking bite.

"Okay, now I gotta bandage you up." I say, swallowing hard. I wrapped the bandages around her arm so it covered it all the way.

Once finished, I use some tape to hold it together. I then pulled back her sleeve so it was covered up and gently set it down on her lap. My job had been done.

I scooted so I could sit beside her. She was still pale from the blood loss but I knew she'd be okay. All she needed was some rest.

(Enid's POV)

When I finally woke up, my entire body felt so sore; mostly my arm. I opened my eyes and saw that my vision was blurry a little bit. "Huh…? What…?" I groaned and looked around. I blinked a few times to see that I was back in the basement.

"Joel…? Ellie…?" I say, still feeling slightly dizzy. Joel was still asleep, resting himself. I moved my black hair out of my face and sat up a bit. "Ow… shit." I grunt, feeling a sharp pain in my arm.

"Oh, you're awake." Ellie said from beside me. I glance at her to see her stretching. She was probably asleep too. "Yeah… What happened?" I ask, leaning forward. "You passed out there. So I doctored you up. Let's just say that the stitching part was a success." she says, scooting to sit in front of me.

It relieved me that she had helped me when I knew she would. I pulled back my blood stained sleeve and saw that my whole forearm was stitched and bandaged from my wrist to an inch from my elbow.

"Oh… thanks Ellie. I would've been dead if you hadn't helped me." I say gratefully. "Hell yeah you would've but I wasn't gonna let an infection kill you." she replied to me. I gave a chuckle and covered my arm back up. "Yeah, it's gonna take more than this to kill me." I laugh, leaning back against the chipping wall.

"So, how do you feel?" she asks me out of real concern. "A bit better than before. Still a little sore though." I tell her, feeling the heaviness of my arm get to me. "Oh, okay. How about we take a break until tomorrow before going out again? I'm gonna need my partner in crime back on her feet." Ellie said, taking the rabbit off of my messenger bag so she could cook it.

"Sure. Yeah. I'm gonna need all the strength I could. And maybe we can find medicine for Joel." I say, adjusting myself up against the wall. "Yeah, true." she said, starting to light a fire so we could cook up that rabbit. "Hopefully Joel will eat something this time." I say, looking over at Joel.

Looking at my skin, I could see in the slight darkness that I was still pale. So there's no way we would go back out there tonight. "Yeah, true. He didn't really eat well last time." Ellie said, cooking the rabbit, "So, you just rest and regain that strength of yours. I'll cook for us tonight."

"Don't mind if I do." I say, shivering a bit. It was still freezing in here and I hugged my arms. "You okay?" Ellie asks me, looking back. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit cold." I replied, still shivering. "Yeah it is cold in here but this fire will warm us up soon enough." Ellie replied, working on the fire as well as cooking two rabbits.

After a while, the rabbits were done and we both ate, making sure to leave some for Joel. We did manage to make him eat some without any issue. I had told Ellie how I ended up bitten by a dog and she was shocked to hear this. I was being stupid and shouldn't have taken it from him.

The fire went out and darkness filled the basement. I figured it was the best time to get some sleep while we still could. Ellie had her body pressed up against my back so she shared her body heat with me. Her left arm wrapped around my stomach; I took her hand and our fingers intertwined together.

I felt comforted by this and instantly fell asleep. This time, I didn't have any nightmares. When morning came, I felt better than I did yesterday. It gave us the opportunity to back out hunting again.

As before, she took the front seat of Callus and I sat behind her with my arms wrapped around her waist. We would get something big this time. My dog bite wasn't going to stop us from finding more food.

"Are you okay to move?" She asked. I didn't hesitate to nod and she helped me stand up to my feet. My legs did feel like jello and heavy to start with but I felt stable to walk now. "Should we tell Joel we're leaving to get food?" I ask, hearing his shallow breathing.

He had to know that we were going to get him food for us. Anything will help him heal faster. And finding medicine for him will help too. Hopefully we can find antibiotics or something to help. He could die without our help now.


	23. Chapter 23 Meeting David

We head back to the woods in hopes of finding something worth eating. It had to be something that would last us for a while. The wind was picking up a bit and Ellie worried that it would affect me in a bad way. But I was fine now since she stitched me up and closed my wound.

We hid behind a rock because Ellie had spotted a rabbit just a minute prior. Once it was in view, she rose up slightly, pulled her bow string and arrow back. She then released the arrow. It hit the rabbit dead on through the neck; its blood staining the ground.

"Nice shot." I say, keeping my voice lowered. "Thanks. But this isn't going to last us very long." She replied, picking up the rabbit and pulling out the arrow from its neck. She was right because that little rabbit isn't going to feed the three of us.

I look around carefully, bow and arrow in hand. I thought I wouldn't find anything but my eyes did catch something. It was a big deer about 3 car lengths away from us. "Ellie. Ellie, look." I whispered, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"What?" She asked, turning in my direction. She saw the deer in her sights and gasped softly. "I always knew you always had a good eye." She said, smiling a bit. She gave me a high five before going to tie Callus up to a tree.

The two of us kept crouched as we began tracking the deer. It was easy to find him because of the tracks he left. We hop over a log and carefully turn to the right. "There he is..." Ellie points out. We hid behind a snow covered rock that was perfect for a hiding spot. "Enid... Take this shot." Ellie said quietly.

I nod once before adjusting myself to shoot him. I close one eye and pull my arrow back, focusing on the shot. I release it and it penetrates his hind leg, making him cry out and bolt away from us.

"Damn, for a minute there I thought you would've missed." Ellie said. We stood up with our bows and arrows lowered and began to follow where the deer went. This time there was blood on the snow.

"Hell no, not possible." I answer, a few centimeters away from her. She chuckled at me before getting a move on. We found him around the corner of a rock face, limping and trying to lick its wound. It was weakened. That was perfect.

Ellie decided to take this next shot and she got him on his shoulder; making him cry and we stood up. "There. He shouldn't be that far. Cmon." Ellie said, taking the lead. I quickly followed her and we took the bloody trail that it left us.

We took about 5 minutes trying to find him but it was up to no avail. It led us to an old fence and it showed it jumped over it. "How's he still alive?" Ellie wondered, hopping over the fence. Once I got over it, I answered with, "Probably adrenaline or something."

The blood had led us to another town. But a small portion of it. It gave me an uneasy feeling that I couldn't shake off. "What is this place?" Ellie wondered. "I don't know. But I don't like it." I say, observing it. There was a warehouse of some sort with shattered windows and snow covering it. We jump down to the ground level with a grunt.

We keep ourselves moving despite my gut telling me to turn the hell around and go back to Joel. I could see that Ellie was just as uneasy as I was.

The wood beneath our feet creaked loudly and that made this situation more unnerving. When we finally found the deer, it was on the ground. Dead with an arrow in its neck.

"What? That's not our arrow." I said, taking note of where we shot the deer. "You're right..." Ellie whispered. We jog up to the deer and inspect it closely. That was definitely not one of our arrows. Then, a single twig snap sent Ellie and I into survival mode.

We both hold up our bow and arrows in the direction of the sound. "Who's there?!" Ellie shouted in a demanding tone. For a minute, there wasn't a response. "Come out with your hands up, right now!" I called.

At this, two men appeared from behind the trees. One had a beard and a jean coat while the other wore a beanie and dark winter clothing. "Hello. We just want to talk." The bearded man inquired.

"Any sudden moves and we put one right between your eyes. Ditto for buddy boy over there." Ellie threatened, shifting her bow and arrow from the bearded guy to beanie guy.

"Tell us what you want." I demand, keeping my eyes on them while standing next to Ellie. I tightly held my bow and arrow up so I could take a shot if necessary

"Um, name's David. This here's my friend James." he answered, "We come from a larger group. Women and children. We're all very hungry." I keep my arrow pointed at the two men to show that I kept my guard up. "So are we. Women and children- all very hungry too." Ellie inquired.

David noticed the deer that lay on the ground. "Well, maybe we could do a little trade for some of that meat there. What do you two need? Weapons, ammo, clothes-" David asked, getting Ellie and I to perk up.

"Medicine! Do you have antibiotics?" I ask, keeping my arrow pointed at him. "We do. Back at our camp. You two are welcome to follow us-" David replied, walking over Ellie and I. "We're not following you anywhere!" Ellie says, getting the man to stop.

"Buddy boy can go get it. He comes back with what we need, the deer's all yours. Anyone else shows up-" Ellie states. "You put one between my eyes." he finished, pointing at his forehead. "You catch on fast." I breathe. This got the man to look over to his friend.

"Two bottles of penicillin and a syringe. Make it fast." David told him. That was until I saw that James had a shotgun with him. "Wait. Give me that shotgun. " I demand. This caught him off guard and he looked to David. He looked baffled too by my order. "You heard her. Give it to her." Ellie said, agreeing that I should have it.

"Just do what the young lady says." David said to James. James didn't say anything and took it off his shoulder and laid it down at my feet.

I quickly put my bow up in my backpack and picked up the rifle. "Now go fetch the medicine. Go on." David inquired. We were in total control of this situation.

"I'll take your rifle." Ellie said. David walks to us and carefully sets the rifle down in front of her feet. I kept the shotgun pointed at him and stepped forward. "Back up." I demand. He does just that.

I bet he was baffled that he and his friend were robbed blind by two girls trying to survive. Ellie picks the rifle up, reloads and points it at him. Now that we have big guns, we can kill him if he dares to make a sudden move.

"He's probably going to be a while. Mind if we take shelter from the cold?" he asked, looking around. Ellie swings the rifle at the deer. "Bring him with us." she said directly. We watch as David picks up the deer by its antlers and drags it to the abandoned building behind him.

Ellie and I kneel down a couple of feet from him with our guns in our hands. We had no intention of trusting this man. "There. You know, you two shouldn't really be out here on your own. It's not safe." David inquired. I glare at him.

"We don't like company." Ellie said bluntly. She wasn't wrong about that. "I see. So what are your names?" David asks. "What's it to you?" I ask, my brow furrowed. It's none of his business of what our names are.

"Look, I know it isn't easy to trust strangers. Whoever hurt you two clearly cares about them." I glance down at my feet and sigh. He's right. Ellie and I do have someone hurt that we care about. And that man is Joel.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine." David said. "We'll see." Ellie sighed. I looked up at Ellie for a brief moment. She too was worried about Joel being back there on the verge of death but with this medicine, he'll be back on his feet in no time.

Then, we all hear the distinct screeching of a clicker. We freeze up and slowly raise up. Ellie and I hold up our guns tightly. We look at each other to see how scared we were.

The clicker runs in the building and begins to click around us. I heard Ellie take a step back. That step caused the clicker to be alerted and it rid at us.

David then shoots it to keep it away from us. He shoots it twice more to kill it. "Wait? You have another gun?" I asked. "Sorry. I'd like my rifle back now." David replied, looking outside at the window. "No, you have your pistol." Ellie inquired, holding her rifle up. I hold my shotgun up and put my finger on the trigger.

"I hope you two know how to use those." David said. "We've had some practice." Ellie answered. I was ready to battle some infected.

David rushes to the door and quickly closes it with a loud slam. "No matter what, we got to keep them out." David said.

"You got enough ammo?" Ellie asks me as she reloads her rifle. "Yeah. You?" I reply. "Yeah." she says. "You two cover the windows." David instructed.

We agreed and walked up to the windows. "Let's kick these fuckers asses." she whispered to me, holding the rifle out of the boarded up window.

"You said it." I reply, looking out of the window. I see one coming in a sprint and I don't hesitate to pull the trigger, blowing it to smithereens. Ellie shoots another one dead. A third one comes and we both take it out. "Nice shot." Ellie says. "Thanks. You too." I reply with a smile.

There were more infected coming from the other side. I tried shooting another but it grabbed me before I could. I held the fucker back with my forearm as it tried to bite me.

"Get the fuck away from her!" Ellie shouted, driving her knife in the runners back. Once she pulled it off me, I drove my knife into its stomach, killing it.

"Thanks Ellie." I say, grateful she saved me. She nodded before firing the rifle twice more to kill two clickers. I killed three runners with my shotgun.

"You guys are better with those things than I and James are!" David said, running to some metal locker. "Give me a hand with this." He said, starting to pull it to the window.

Ellie and I rush to him and we begin to help him push it. The thing was heavy as hell. It was a little harder for me because of my stitched up arm.

We get it in front of the window however a stray clicker suddenly grabs Ellie by her shoulders. I was about to save her but David beats me to it. We get away from the window.

I quickly reload my shotgun and shoot a runner that was rushing at Ellie. Now we're even yet again. Since there were only 5 shells in my gun, I made each one count.

Five infected were killed by me. Ellie killed 4 with her rifle. After that, we stand in silence to listen for more infected. Even though I didn't say it, I was practically shitting myself.

"Screw it. We're getting out of here." David declares, rushing to kick a door down that leads to another area. Ellie and I follow suit into the next hallway.

Ellie was in front of me. Infected tried breaking through a window in an attempt to grab us however, we were able to dodge it. We make it up another flight of stairs. I could hear the infected closing in on us.

David and Ellie make it but I wind up trippin on the last step. "Agh!" I cry out, feeling my elbow slam onto the snow covered floor. I tried turning to my back but one of the clickers was faster than me. It leaped on top of me.

"Enid!" Ellie cried in panic, coming to my aid. As quick as I could, I grabbed her hand tightly. The clicker's hands grabbing at my clothing was making it hard for me to hold on to Ellie's hand.

I kick the clicker as hard as I could with my left foot while David shoots it twice in it's fungal plated head. Ellie helps me up and pulls me inside the next room.

"Enid, are you okay?" Ellie asks me, holding my arms. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." I reply, swallowing. Ellie patted my back in relief before walking over to a snow covered drawer that had a thing of bullets in it.

"Enid, here." she said, tossing me some. "Lucky break." I say, catching them and reloading my gun. David used his shoulder to push another door open so that we were in a new room. It looked like an engine room.

I gripped onto my shotgun. "Follow me. Through here." David tells us. "Do you know where you're going?" Ellie wondered, uncertain of this. "I've never set foot in this place," he replied. Ellie and I glance at each other for a minute.

"Oh, that's comforting." I say, clearly unnerved. We follow him to a set of metal steps in a jog. "How're you two holding up?" David asked us. "Don't worry about us." Ellie replied bluntly.

We run on a loose balcony. Ellie and I hop over debris but it starts to creak under our feet. Before we took another step, the catwalk gave way from underneath us, causing Ellie and I to fall through to the bottom floor. The impact hurt like hell because I landed face first.

"Oh… agh…" Ellie grunted, struggling to sit up, as she had landed on her stomach. "Ow…" I groan, pushing my sore body up. It didn't help that I landed on my arm with the dog bite.

"Hey, you two okay?" David called from above. "We're fine…" Ellie groaned. She then helps me up to my feet. I accepted her help and we hid behind a wall as clickers started coming through.

We pressed our bodies against the wall to stay out of sight. "How many arrows do you have?" Ellie asked. "About 3. You?" I reply. "About the same. Don't forget to make them count." she said.

"You don't gotta tell me twice. Let's show these fuckers who they're messing with." I say with confidence. "Enid Johnson, you truly are a badass." Ellie chuckled, getting ready to fight against the clickers. "Pssh, when am I not?" I reply, getting my bow loaded.

We then crouch down so as to not draw attention. Ellie and I make our way through and jump down to another level. The two of us managed to kill the clickers with the little arrows that we had.

We then find a ladder and climb up. A clicker is the first thing we see before it is shot down. "You two alright?" David calls, coming around the corner. "Oh, there you are." Ellie said. We follow David to another small area that had a dead end.

"Where do we go now?" I wonder, looking around the area. "How about that ladder up there? I just need a boost." Ellie says, pointing at a ladder that was sitting on a catwalk. David went over to a ledge and locked his fingers together to boost her up.

I look up and listen closely. Clickers were up there. "Please be careful up there." I say. "Okay." She nodded, looking back at me. She then walks away from the edge and starts to make her way to where the ladder was.

My heart was pounding in my chest from how nervous I felt. However, it went away when I saw her coming to the ladder. "Alright, here you go." Ellie said, pushing the ladder down to David and I.

David brings it over to another ledge that has a doorway. Ellie jumped down from the catwalk and she walked over to me. "C'mon." he says, climbing up the ladder.

I went after him then Ellie climbed up last. We jog through a wooden corridor of some sort. "We need to find a way out of here." David reminded, closing the door behind us. I roll my eyes at that.

"Yeah no shit." Ellie whispered. "We're not fucking stupid, old man." I add. Ellie and I are smart enough to know we can't stay in one spot while there's infected around.

We walked around a room that had two sets of steps. We walk up the steps and see some dead guys laying frozen on the floor. "Look here, guess the infected got to these guys already." I say, looking at the corpses.

"Ah Lord. I've been looking for these guys." David sighed, "Doesn't matter. Grab their gear, you two. Then we can find a way out of here." Ellie and I started to take the loot that these guys had left.

There were a few molotovs, some bullets, and a couple of health kits. Ellie gives me a few items. Above us, screams of the infected made us become more alert.

I looked up and felt my heart beating faster in panic. "Here they come!" I cry, holding up my shotgun. "They're on the roof!" Ellie pointed out. "Get ready!" David called out as runners started to jump through the window.

They growl loudly as they charge at us. One runner ambushed me from behind and I shouted in panic. I tried to stab it with my knife but I couldn't.

"Get the fuck away from her, fucker!" Ellie shouts, stabbing it in the head. We kill the remaining infected before things become quiet. "You okay?" Ellie asked me. I nodded and swallowed hard.

"Are you?" I asked. "Yeah, so far so good." Ellie replied. "Don't relax yet. There's more coming." David warned.

I run to the upper level and see more of those fuckers. "How many are there?" Ellie called out. "No idea. Keep at it." David responded. I groaned at this.

Ellie stayed close to me while I killed any infected with my shotgun. She shot some with her rifle. Before long, there was a loud crash above us. It was a fucking bloater.

"Do you hear that?" Ellie asked me. "Yeah, it's a bloater!" I cry, seeing the bloater jump down to the floor. "A what?!" David called out. "One of those big fucking guys!" Ellie shouts, throwing a lit molotov at the bloater.

I took my shotgun and shot the bloater 3 times. It threw spore bombs at us but we were quick to avoid them. Ellie shoots it once more before it falls to the floor and dies.

"The big guy's down!" Ellie said. No more infected came through. I lower my shotgun.

"Hey, kids?" David says. "Yeah?" Ellie replied. "I think we did it." David said, walking out of the room. "As in we got them all." I wonder. "Don't sound too surprised." David inquired.

"More like disbelief." Ellie sighed. "Yeah, really." I add. We then go to where David was. He was standing at a hole in the wall. "Listen." he quietly said. Ellie and I listened closely and didn't hear anything but the icy wind.

"No infected." Ellie whispered. David repeats what she says. "Let's go check on that buck of ours." David said, patting our chests. I got an uneasy feeling when he did that.

We followed him back to where the buck was. Ellie looked back at the door to make sure we weren't being followed. "You two handled yourselves pretty nice back there." David said, kneeling down to the dying fire.

"Whew, I'd say we make a pretty good team." David adds, tending to the fire. Ellie and I kneel by the fire and start to warm our hands up. I set my shotgun in my lap and held my hands up to the fire. Ellie set her rifle next to her.

"Psh. We got lucky, huh?" Ellie answered, nudging me a little. "Oh yeah. Very lucky." I agree. "Lucky? No, no. There's no such thing as luck. You see, I believe that everything happens for a reason." David inquired.

I roll my eyes and look away from him. What did he have to believe in that luck wasn't in his vocabulary? "Why say that?" I ask. "It's true. And I can prove it to both of you." David said, "Now this winter… has been especially cruel. A few weeks back I uh… sent a group of men to a nearby town to look for food. Only a few returned. They said that they've been slaughtered by a crazy man. And get this, crazy man traveling… with two little girls." David explained, using a stick to gesture to us.

I swear I felt the color in my face drain when he said this. Ellie looked at me with a look of clear terror. She was just as uneasy as I was. David knows about Joel and us.

"You two see? Everything happens for a reason." David adds. I quickly grab my shotgun and leap to my feet. Ellie joined me and we aimed our guns at him, ready to kill him if he made a sudden move.

"Now, don't get upset. It's neither of y'all's fault. You're only kids." Dad says, unfazed by our actions. I glared at him and say, "You're fucking lucky that we don't blow your head off right here." My trust for this man had quickly changed.

He then looks up at the doorway. "James, lower the gun." he says, getting Ellie and I to turn around. James was standing at the doorway with a pistol aimed at Ellie and I. I felt sick to my stomach and my breathing became faster and more panicked.

"No way, David. I'm not letting them go." James scowled. Ellie stayed right beside me so we could protect each other if need be. "Lower the gun." David said slowly.

James does so in a reluctant way. David looked at the fire. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared. "Now give them the medicine." David commanded.

James walked in and threw a sack of medicine on the floor in front of Ellie and I. "The others won't be happy about this." James says. "Well, that's not your concern." David replied.

Ellie picked up the medicine and we inch our way towards the door. Neither of us lowered our weapons. "Move the fuck out of the way." Ellie demanded. James compiled but kept his eyes on us.

"You two won't survive long out there. I can protect you two." he offered. I shook my head at this. Every fiber of my being was telling us to get the hell away from there. "No thanks." Ellie said. We then take off running away from there.

My heart was pounding against my rib cage. We run through the snow before stopping a second. "Holy shit… didn't think we…" I pant, unable to breathe. "Don't think about it. Let's get the fuck out of here." Ellie urged, pulling me along. We ran on to the horse.

While running, I feel the nausea in my stomach rise. It wasn't just because of the encounter with that bastard, but my wounded arm was starting to throb. It didn't go unnoticed. "Enid, what's wrong?" Ellie asked instantly.

"I don't feel good…" I groan, holding my aching arm. That was heavily concerning because I didn't have any proper medicine for this bite mark. "Oh… okay. I'll give you some of that medicine." she offered, knowing what was causing my sickness.

She helps me back to where Callus was. He hadn't moved from the spot that we left him in. "You get on first and pull me up." I say, glancing behind me. "Okay." She agreed and mounted the horse. She reached down and hoisted me up.

I wrap my arms around her waist and lean on her back to ease my nausea. We raced off back to the house we were camping out in. "You good?" Ellie asks, looking back at me.

"I will be when we get in the house." I say with a groan. "Okay. I'll lead us in. You just stay on." Ellie says, getting off the horse. I scooted my aching body in the saddle. She led the horse towards the house.

When we get in the garage, Ellie shut the door behind us. She comes over to help me down. I put my arm around her shoulder so I wouldn't collapse.

Ellie led us downstairs to the basement where Joel was. We stop in front of him and see him shaking underneath the blanket. "Joel?" Ellie said quietly. He takes a few shallow breaths.

The two of us kneel down next to him. "We only managed to catch a little bit of food." Ellie said, taking off her backpack. "But.. we did get medicine. You'll feel better in no time." I tell him.

"Yeah… I'm also gonna Enid some too. She's hurt too." Ellie said. I glance up when she says this. Neither of us said anything because I knew that she didn't want to lose me from an infection to this bite.

"Move your arm." Ellie whispered, moving his arm some. She moved his shirt and the sight of his stitched up stomach made my stomach turn. It wasn't a pretty sight. Ellie prepared the penicillin for him.

"Here we go." Ellie said, injecting him with the medicine. He let out a loud grunt of pain. "Sorry…" Ellie said, covering him back up.

Seeing him in this state was painful to watch. "Okay, Enid. It's your turn." Ellie said, getting another dose ready. It was about the same amount as Joel's dosage.

"Okay…" I swallow, pulling my sleeve up. My arm was starting to turn purple. I knew that it wasn't a good sign.

Ellie gently takes a hold of it. We both knew that it was going to hurt like a son of a bitch. I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared myself.

She stuck the needle in my arm, causing me to let out a pained cry. The medicine was injected into my arm. "Sorry…" she apologized. I recover my arm and hold it close to me.

"It's okay…" I reply. "I'm not losing the two of you. So this better fucking work." Ellie said, putting the medicine back in her backpack. "As I said before, it will take more than this to kill me." I say, looking at her.

She grinned at me. We then decided to get some sleep for the night. We definitely needed it after the events that we went through. I lay in between Ellie and Joel again. Ellie had her body pressed up against mine so we'd share body heat. Our fingers were intertwined with one another, making my heart beat.

All I wanted was to be with them right now. My eyes slowly started to shut on their own until I saw nothing but darkness.


	24. Chapter 24 Caught by the Predator

When morning came, I was awoken by Ellie shaking me. "Enid, wake up!" she said quietly yet panicked at the same time. I open my eyes to see her kneeling over me. I sat up and rubbed the sleep away from my eyes. "Huh…? Ellie? What's going on?" I ask with a yawn.

From the look on her face, something was definitely wrong. Something was freaking her out. "Those fuckers tracked us…" Ellie answered. I snapped fully awake at the sound of that. I jump to my feet and jump on a washing machine.

I look out of the window and see that three of David's guys were right outside, searching for Ellie and I. I swear I felt my heart jump into my throat. Looking back at Ellie, I see just how scared she really was.

"We gotta get out of here…" I say, jumping down from the washing machine. We kneel down to Joel for a minute. "We're gonna draw them away from here." Ellie said, looking at Joel. "Don't worry. We'll come back for you." I say, grabbing my bag and throwing it over the opposite shoulder so it wouldn't fall off.

I then follow Ellie up the basement stairs. She and I both knew that Joel wasn't able to defend himself. So we had no other choice but to draw them away from him.

I led the horse out of the house as quietly as I could. Ellie closed the garage door as quietly as she could. She then got on the horse and leaned down to help me up. I grab on and sit behind her with my arms wrapped around her backpack.

"Go…" she whispered. The horse starts to walk forward. I grip onto Ellie's backpack and look at the men. "You sure that those girls are even here?" one guy asked. "Man, there are horse tracks down the fuckin' street. They're here." his accomplice says.

Suddenly, Ellie gets grabbed by another guy. She fought against him. Before I could defend her, I got grabbed by another guy. "Hey, we got them!" they yell. I fought as hard as I could.

I grabbed my knife and stabbed the mothrfucker in the eye. "What're you waiting for? Shoot them!" one guy shouted. "But David said-" "Fuck David! Shoot them now!"

Ellie and I rode off in a gallop as the guys started to shoot at us. While running, a guy tried to get on. "Get off!" I shout, kicking him off.

We got shot at multiple times as we rode off. "What the fuck's wrong with these guys?!" I yell, avoiding a bullet that flew past my head. "They really want us dead!" Ellie cried over the array of airbourne bullets.

We run down a hill and I hear someone say to shoot our horse. When we came to a cliffside, the hunters shot down the horse. Ellie and I fly off of him and fall down the cliff.

I shouted in fear as we fell. It felt like slow motion the longer I fell. When I finally hit the rocks, a thousand volts of pain shot through my body, causing me to cry out in pain.

Hitting the bottom of the cliff, my entire body felt sore. I sit up with my entire body shaking. Ellie had landed face first.

I make my way over to her and help her up; one hand on her back and the other on her arm. We both looked up and were horrified to see that the horse was dead in the snow; crimson blood staining the snow.

"Oh no… Oh shit!" Ellie cried, getting up with me. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" I say, my voice filled with panic and fear. We then start to make a run for it down the hill.

"They're running to the cabins!" a hunter shouted. Ellie and I jump through the window of a cabin. We instantly crouch down to stay out of sight.

"Where do we go?" I whisper, staying close to Ellie as we move through the cabin. "We find a way around them. Lead them away from Joel. You with me?" she asked, looking at me. "I'm with you." I reply.

We quietly move into the kitchen and immediately hear the voices of David's guys outside of the house. Ellie and I quickly grab our bow and arrows so we'd remain silent.

"Are we really gonna kill those girls? David said he wants them alive." one guy said nervously. "He doesn't make that call. James told me that those are the girls from the university. How many of our guys were killed there?" another guy said.

Ellie carefully opens the side door that led to outside. "Shit, I didn't know that this was them. Screw David then. I'm not taking a chance with this." the first guy responds. Ellie and I remain silent as we sneak past them; they go into the cabin that we were just in.

We sneak into a shack and hide inside it. From what I saw, there were only 3 guys. Therefore we carried a greater risk if we went into combat, especially since they were all armed and desperate to kill Ellie and I.

We tried sneaking out, but another guy had spotted us. I quickly pulled out my pistol and hid in the shack yet again. The guys start to shoot at us. Ellie and I raised up only for a moment and shot back at them.

I shot a guy in the chest three times while Ellie got another guy in his head. We kill the three guys that were in this area before we move on. We hide another platform as a guy starts to walk by.

I pulled out my bow and arrow so I could take the guy down stealthily. His footsteps grew louder and louder as he got closer. When he got close enough, I shot an arrow in his neck. He groaned and fell over dead in the snow.

"Nice shot." Ellie said. "Thanks. You too." she whispered. We moved out as stealthily as we could. But it didn't work for long.

"I'm gonna kill you, you little shits!" a man shouted, sprinting at me. Before I could react, I was grabbed from behind. The guy had his arm around my neck and he tried to choke me. I coughed and gagged loudly while kicking outwards.

This catches Ellie's attention and she doesn't hesitate to come to my rescue. She stabbed the guy in the back. He dropped me with a pained yell. He then turns and grabs at Ellie.

"Don't touch her, motherfucker!" I yell, stabbing the bastard in the head. Once he fell dead, I helped her to her feet. We managed to kill what was left of the hunters in the area.

"Okay… that's that." Ellie said, making a nailbomb. "Hopefully there's no more of these fuckers here." I say, looking around with slightly widened eyes. "I hope not either." she said, standing back up.

"Thanks for the save back there." I say. "You're welcome. I'm not letting those fuckers touch you." Ellie replied, giving me a hug. I hugged her back a bit tightly.

"And I'm not letting them touch you either. They'll have to get through me." I say, pulling back from the hug. We stare at each other for a moment. I swear I felt my heart skip a beat for a second.

But we didn't have time for any of that; we had to keep moving. We go up a flight of cracked, snow covered steps. At the top was a sign that had faded writing on it. But we could still read it.

"Look, nature track. That should get us out of here." Ellie said. I followed her to a broken bridge that was over freezing water. We pressed ourselves to the wall of the bridge as we moved along it.

We prayed not to fall in the water. When we made it over, we continued on. My heart was beating hard against my temples and I couldn't catch my breath.

Ellie sensed this and took a hold of my hand, which calmed me down a little. We jump down a small ledge and listen to our surroundings carefully. From the sounds of things, we weren't being followed.

We came to a tunnel that looked to be our only way through. "Enid, see if it's clear." Ellie said. "Okay." I reply, and go in the pipe while crouching. I made it about a quarter through before a large piece of debris stopped me.

I back out of it and stand back up. "There's something in the way." I tell her. We then pull the debris out of the wall before going back through the pipe.

We made it to the other side and we saw a large building. It looked like a large house. Or was it a restaurant? We weren't sure.

Behind it was a path that had a large gate that could lead us back. "There's our way back." I say, feeling optimistic. "You're right. Hang in there Joel." Ellie replied.

We jump down from the track and instantly hear voices. We hid behind a wall to stay out of sight. "Cover the grounds. Make sure that those girls aren't hiding over here." a guy says.

Ellie and I snuck over to a large crate. I peek from behind the box to see how many guys there were. There were at least 7 guys; it gave us the opportunity to throw a nail bomb at them.

We listen carefully. They knew what it was but didn't run. The nail bomb had blown them up to smithereens.

It had attracted other guys and they sprinted in our direction. Ellie and I shot the fuckers with our pistols. Once the guys were all dead, Ellie and I ran around the building to look for a way in.

No such luck. But there was a hole in the roof. There was a tall wooden box that could get us inside. Ellie climbed up on the box first before hoisting me up.

We jumped into the restaurant. "Let's not get trapped in here." Ellie says, searching through the drawers. "Yeah. Exit's that way." I point out. We grabbed the loot that was in the dining area before going to the next room.

We walked into the lobby part of this building. "They're on this side of the lodge!" a hunter shouts, shooting at us through a window. Ellie grabbed her rifle and shot off a guy's head. I shot another guy with my shotgun.

Ellie and I run through the lodge and kill the last of our pursuers. We both ran to a set of double doors that would get us out of here. There was debris blocking the doorway so we would have to push it out of the way.

"Enid, help me with this." Ellie said, using her shoulder to push it. "Okay." I nod, pressing my body to the door. We start to push it.

It took us a couple of pushes to get the door open. Then, I feel someone grab me from behind. I instantly grab my knife and try to stab the fucker. I glance over to see Ellie getting grabbed by… David.

"Relax you two… I'm keeping you guys alive here." David said. The person who had a hold of me tightened their grip on me. My body started to become heavy and I felt my heart slow down. Before I knew it, everything went black.


	25. Chapter 25 Butcher Shop

Waking up was a pain. My head was aching badly and my entire body was still feeling heavy. I opened my eyes and found that my vision was blurry.

When I saw where Ellie and I were at, I snapped fully awake. We were locked in some sort of cellar. My heart jumped into my throat.

My eyes drifted to where Ellie was; she was still unconscious on the floor. I shook her awake as hard as I could. "Ellie! Ellie, wake up!" I whisper, still shaking her.

My attempts worked as she stirred and groaned. She sits up slowly with her head in her hands. "Enid? Whe… Where are we?" she asked drowsily.

Before I could answer, the sound of chopping stopped me. We turned to look at what was making that sound. We sit up and take a closer look.

There was someone chopping some meat. When we see him cutting a human arm, I feel my stomach turn. We both gasp softly and scoot away from the door. These fuckers were cannibals… We're we their next meal? We're they saving us for later?

I grabbed Ellie's hand and squeezed hard. She squeezed back. The man stopped chopping and turned around to look at Ellie and I.

He saw the disgusted look on our faces before walking off. The butcher was James, David's friend. When he had left, Ellie jumped up and walked to the gate.

She grabs it and begins to shake it with a grunt. I get up to help her. The gate was locked. Neither of us were small enough to squeeze underneath the door.

"How're you two feeling?" David asked, bringing in a tray of food. Looking at him made my blood boil. I backed up a little bit.

"Super." Ellie sarcastically says. "No thanks to you." I spat, giving him a disgusted look. He then slides the tray underneath the door.

"You two should eat." he tells us, "I know you two are hungry. Been out for quite some time." Ellie and I glared at him through the cage. "What is this?" I ask, not trusting him.

"It's deer." he answered. Ellie looks at it for a second before looking back at David. "With some human helping on the side?" Ellie asked, glancing over at the body behind him.

"No. No, I promise it's just the deer meat." he said, giving us a strange smile. "You're a fucking animal." Ellie spat. We kneel down in front of the tray and begin to eat off of it.

We were so hungry that we didn't care if it was deer or even mice. "Well that's quick to judgment," he says, kneeling down to his knees, "Considering you two and your friend killed how many men?" I shake my head and look at him. "They gave us no choice." I say to him.

"And you think we have a choice? Is that it?" he asks, shaking his head, "You kill to survive and so do we. We have to take care of our own by any means necessary." After a few bites, I wipe my mouth and look at him. "So what's your plan? Are you gonna chop us up into tiny pieces?" Ellie asked sternly.

David only chuckles at this before looking up. "I'd rather not." he says, "Please tell me your names." He stared into our eyes for a minute. My eyes narrow in anger and I shove the tray back to the other side.

"You're so full of shit." I growl, standing back up with Ellie. We hold onto the bars gently. "On the contrary, I've been quite honest with the two of you." he said, setting the tray aside.

"Now I think it's your turn. It's how I'm gonna convince the others." he says, standing back up. I stared at him with a confused look on my face. "Convince them of what?" Ellie asked, confused also.

"That you two can come around. You have heart. You're loyal to each other." he replies, getting closer to us, "And you two are special." He placed his hand on our hands.

My heart jumped into my throat from how nervous I was feeling. It was then we knew what this man's intentions were. Ellie and I look at each other for a minute.

Ellie had slowly put her hand on top of David's. She then quickly grabs his fingers and bends it back all of the way, causing him to double over with a yell. She tries grabbing the keys that were attached to his pants, only to get grabbed by her wrist. David pulls her into the cell door three times.

"You bastard!" I shout in anger. I jumped at him and attacked him but he grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me into the door with a hard slam. Severe pain ran through my head, causing me to clench my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut.

I hear my heartbeat throb in the back of my head, rendering me stunned for a minute. I fell on my ass, feeling blood drip from my head and nose. When the wave of pain ended, I came to Ellie's aid.

"You stupid little girls! You're making this more difficult than it needs to be. What am I supposed to tell the others now?" David growled, holding his broken fingers. "Ellie and Enid." Ellie said, wiping her bloody nose. He turned to look at us, "What?"

"Tell them that Ellie and Enid are the little girls, who fucking kicked your ass!" I say, sneering at him. He looked down for a moment before saying, "How did she put it? Tiny pieces? See you in the morning, Ellie and Enid." He then leaves the room.

After he left, Ellie sat up. "Are you okay, Ellie?" I asked in concern. "My fucking nose…" she groaned, holding her nose, "What about you?"

"That fucker gave me a throbbing headache…" I say, still feeling my heartbeat throbbing at the back of my head, "Do you have any idea of how we're gonna get out of here?" "Agh… No. But we're getting out of here in one piece." she replied. That made me feel a little better.

I grinned warmly at her as I wiped the blood from my nose. Right now, all I wanted to do was to get some sleep with Ellie to get this thing off my mind.


	26. Chapter 26 Interrogation

(Joel's POV)

I wake up with a startled gasp after another nightmare about Sarah. As quickly as I could, I tried sitting up but was caught by the sharp pain in my stomach. It caused me to yell. It didn't take me long to see that I was alone in this basement; Ellie and Enid were nowhere in sight.

I get on my hands and knees and check to see if I was bleeding. "Ellie? Enid?" I call. I push myself up to my feet and get my backpack. Looking up the stairs, I knew that's where I needed to go.

I limp my way up the creaky steps and push the door open. It led me to a kitchen. I leaned on the counter for a minute before standing straight up.

"Where the hell are you two?" I say, walking through the living room. I open the front door and go down the steps. "Ellie! Enid! Where did they run off to?" I say. I continue walking down the snow covered streets.

When I reach the end of the streets, a string of bullets is fired at me. "Shit." I whisper, hiding behind a car. "Where are they?!" I shout, getting my shotgun out.

I raised up and fired the gun, blowing the insides out of two hunters. I wait a minute before running out from cover and avoiding shots from the hunters. "One way or another you're gonna tell me!" I shouted as I shot down 3 more guys.

I made it across the street and pulled out an axe that was stuck in the fence. The others start running from me. I throw a molotov and it explodes on two more guys, causing them to burn from the flames.

After that, I go through a house and grab some more gear and craft a few nail bombs, some shivs, and a molotov. I then hop out of a window. Hoping over some debris, I suddenly get grabbed from behind.

"Gotcha asshole!" the guy who grabbed me says. His friend comes at me with a knife. "Finish him off!" the first guy says. I struggle against his grip with all of my might. "Hold him still!" his friend shouts.

I then used my foot to kick his friend in the crotch as hard as I could, making him fall to the ground. I head butt the other guy in the nose and I shove him in the wall. I walk to his friend and stomp on his nose, hearing it crack under my shoe.

He falls over from the kick. "You're coming with me." I say, grabbing the guy by his underarms. I drag him towards the house I was just in. "Let me go… I'll fuck you up." the guy mumbled.

I punch the guy on the floor multiple times in the face. "What do you want? What the fuck?!" he cried. I silenced him with a final punch. "You wait here." I groan, walking over to his friend, who was tied to a chair.

I pull up a chair and sit down in front of the guy's friend with a knife in my hand. "Now… the girls. Are they alive?" I ask, looking at him straight in the eyes. "What girls? I don't know no girls!" he says.

I roll my eyes and stab the guy in the knee as far as I could, getting him to scream. "Fuck!" he shouts, doubling over. "Focus right here. Right here." I say, slapping him under the chin to make him look at me, "Or I'll pop your goddamn knee off. The girls."

He tries to calm down. "Those girls are alive. They're David's newest pets." he answered. "Where?" I snarl in his ear. I twist the knife deeper into his knee; he screams in pain. He was going to tell me where Ellie and Enid were. It doesn't matter what the hell I have to do but I'm gonna get the answers that I'm looking for.

"In the town! In the town." he answers. I pull the knife out of his knee and put it in his mouth by the handle. I take out a map and hold it up to him.

"Now mark it on the map. And it better be the exact same spot that your buddy points to. Mark it." I say. He nods with wide eyes. He marks a spot with the knife and spits it on the floor.

"Right there! You can verify it. Go ask him!" the guy says. I stand up and walk around him. "He'll tell you. I ain't lyin'. I ain't lyin'." he said. I grab him by the neck and strangle him before snapping his neck.

I then walk over to his friend while picking up a pipe. "Fuck you, man! He told you what you wanted! I'm not telling you shit!" his friend says, backing up. I then tower over him.

"That's alright. I believe him." I say. I then swing the pipe and hit him in the face, ultimately caving his skull in so that it killed him.


	27. Chapter 27 Walking in Winter Hell

(Enid's POV)

I slept against the wall with Ellie laying on my shoulder. Suddenly, I felt Ellie getting ripped away from me. "Wakey-wakey." James says, starting to drag her out of the cell.

I immediately jumped up and looked behind me. "Let go!" Ellie cried, trying to grab me. I try to help her by grabbing her arm. "Ellie! No!" I shout, feeling someone grab a hold of me.

I start fighting against the man's tight grip. "No! Let her go, you fuckers! I'll fucking kill you!" I shout, threatening them. The guy then grabs my arm and tightly pins it behind my back, causing me to cry out in pain.

"You fucking wait your turn, you little shit. The two of you will be a great morsal for us." the guy growled, making my stomach churn. "Stop!" Ellie screamed, biting down on David's hand as hard as she could. David had kneed her hard in her stomach, causing her to double over.

"Stop it! Fucking leave her alone!" I scream, feeling desperate in wanting to save her. The guy holding me tightened his grip on my arm, making me yell out from the pain. David and James threw Ellie on a table.

"I warned you!" David growled, raising the meat cleaver over Ellie's neck. "I'm infected! I'm infected!" Ellie screamed before he could kill her. I went silent at this but understood what she was doing.

"Really?" David says with a raspy voice. "And you are too." I say through my pain. Both David and James look at me confused.

"Right there. Roll up my sleeve. Look at it!" Ellie demanded, tugging her arm. "I'll play along." David says, slamming the meat cleaver down next to Ellie's head, making her flinch. David then pulls her sleeve up to reveal her bite mark. He stared in shock at her arm.

"What was it that you told us? Everything happens for a reason right?" I say to David. Both of them were now scared. "What the hell is that?" the guy holding me asks nervously. "She would've turned by now; it can't be real!" David explains, looking at the bite mark on his hand.

"It looks pretty fucking real to me!" James shouted. At this moment, I took the opportunity to bite down on the guy holding me with all of my strength. The bite was so hard that it caused him to bleed.

As he let me go while screaming in pain, Ellie had taken the meat cleaver and swung it into James's neck, causing him to die almost instantly. She then rolled off of the table.

Ellie grabbed my hand and we bolted out of there while David shot at us. Luckily, he missed with each shot. We run through the doorway and shoot again. We hide behind a wall, panting.

We looked at each other for a minute; fear was written in her eyes. I then spot our knives sitting on a shelf. Ellie notices too and grabs them both. She hands me my knife.

"Okay…" she says. "Let's get the hell out here." I reply, my voice filled with fear. We see a window and jump through it and into the freezing, blinding, blizzard.

The whole time, I never let go of Ellie's hand. After witnessing her almost getting decapitated in front of me made me paranoid. I didn't want her out of my sight.

"God, what the fuck's wrong with these people?" Ellie asked. "They're fucking crazy!" I pant, covering my face from the snow. It was hard to see because of how thick the wind was.

My heart jumped into my throat when David started to shoot at us. "Where are you going, Ellie and Enid? This is my town." David shouts, sending a sickening chill up my spine. We went through a door that led into a separate building.

"We need to find a gun." Ellie says in a whisper. "I think those fuckers have some." I reply. Ellie moves a rolling cart out of a doorway.

She grabs my hand again and we make our way into an old, abandoned pet shop. We crouch behind the counter with the cash register. Then, more of those cannibals started shouts right outside of the pet shop.

"Infected." David growled. "What?" someone said. "One of the girls is infected and she escaped with her girlfriend." David responded.

Ellie and I looked at each other; we had the same feeling. "This is bad, David." a woman said. "Alright. I need you to round up those who aren't armed. We're gonna find the infected girl and we're gonna kill her. And as for her girlfriend, I have a plan for her. Catch her and bring her to me." David said sinisterly.

They left the area and I looked at Ellie, feeling my heart hammer in my chest from crippling fear. "Don't worry. They're not gonna lay a hand on you. I promise." Ellie assured softly. Before I could respond, the front door is kicked open and cold air immediately rushed in.

That was our cue to get the fuck out of there. We sneak by him and jump out of an open window. We dive into another building and try to stay hidden. There were more guys talking; indicating that they were in the building with us.

"There they are!" a guy shouted, spotting us. He rushes at us and he ends up grabbing a hold of me. The fucker held onto me with a death grip. Ellie is alerted by this and immediately comes to my aid, stabbing the fucker in the neck.

I fall to the floor while coughing. Ellie grabs the guy's gun and helps me up and pulls me out of the building. We get ambushed by another guy who also had a gun.

Ellie jumped onto the guy and stabbed him in the neck at least three times. I take the guy's gun. Going into another separate building where we shot down two more guys.

We take their ammo before going back out into the blizzard; it was much worse. The frost bit my already frozen cheeks, making me shiver. I saw a few more guys searching for us but thanks to the heavy winds, they didn't see us.

We walk around outside until we come across some parked mail cars. "Which way? Which way?" Ellie asks. "Up there." I point out, looking at a set of old stairs. We walk up the stairs and another guy ends up seeing us.

"Son of a bitch!" the guy shouts, rushing at us. I quickly turn around and shoot the guy in the chest. But that didn't stop him. He grabs Ellie by her neck and tries to strangle her.

"Get the fuck away from her, you motherfucker!" I yell, stabbing the fucker in the eye as deep as I could. He screamed as his blood shot out; some of which got on my face. He dropped Ellie before dying from the wound I inflicted on him.

We then sprint through a gate that looked to be broken. "This place is a damn maze." Ellie mumbled. "Yeah… I can hardly see anything." I reply, keeping my eyes covered from the bullet like snow.

We come across another building and hear two more guys talking inside. "What if that girl bites someone?" the first guy asked. "Relax. She's not biting anyone." his accomplice replies.

"I'm saying that we got a real situation here. What're we going to do with her girlfriend?" the first guy asked. "Find her and bring her to David. He'll take care of her." the other guy replied. My stomach turned again, making me feel sick.

We went into the building that was an old arcade. The fuckers didn't see us and we made it outside again. We ran down the street, not seeing where we were going.

The two of us spotted a dumpster that led to an open window. "Through there!" I say, pointing to the window. We climb up on the dumpster and jump into a restaurant.

It was immediately warmer. We walk down some stairs and go to the front door. Ellie had opened it but David had pushed us back inside.

"You two are easy to track!" he growled, pushing the two of us to the floor. He took Ellie's gun and aimed it at us. "How'd you do it? How did you convince her?" David growled at us.

Ellie and I scoot back and hide behind a booth. My heart felt like it was going to explode in my chest; we were trapped in here with this fucking pshycopath.

"That's alright. There's nowhere to go." David said. Ellie and I stay crouched while moving around so he wouldn't see us. "You two want out? You're gonna have to get these keys." David said.

If we were to get the keys, we'd have to kill him because if we try to get them with him alive, he'll kill us first. I squeezed onto Ellie's hand so that I wouldn't lose her. "We gotta get those keys…" Ellie whispered. I nod at this.

He shot at us but missed. We make a run for it and hide in the kitchen. "I know you're not infected, Ellie. No one fights this hard to stay alive. Especially for that girlfriend of yours." David says, walking around the dining area.

Then, an idea sparked in my head. "Ellie." I whisper. "Yeah?" she replied. We look at each other.

"I got an idea." I say. "What is it?" she replied, looking at me. "There's two of us and only one of him. Maybe if we split up, we'll be able to confuse him and we can overpower him and take him out. Wanna go for it?" I explain.

She looked uncertain about this plan. "I don't know, Enid. Last time, you got-" she said. I took her by the shoulders.

"I know it's dumb but it's all that I can think off right now." I whisper. She looked back at me, a teary glint in her eyes. "Ellie… please I-" I start. Suddenly, she pulled me in for a sudden kiss.

My eyes bulged wide with shock as I felt her kissing me. After about 6 seconds, she broke the kiss, rendering me speechless and stunned. "Please be careful, okay?" she said softly.

"Okay…" I stutter, knowing the plan was risky but it was our only option if we want to stay alive. I then turn and go back into the dining room. I could still feel Ellie's lips on mine.

Since we almost kissed at Tommy's dam, I knew that our feelings for each other had become more than just a friendship. Ever since Ellie and I had met as little kids, I never thought that we would kiss. Now that we did… I knew that our feelings had changed; more than just friends.

"Enid, we will make great use out of you. Surely, we will kill you before you become a morsel for us." David seethed, making me feel sick. "You sick motherfucker…" I spat quietly. He wanted to use me as a food source for his sick, fucking cannibal group.

I stealthily move through the booths and the smell of fire enters my nose. He set the place on fire so we couldn't escape. "So what's it going to be Ellie and Enid?" David said, "Both of you really shook my faith. But only for a second."

I go down a flight of stairs and hide behind a salad bar. I pulled out my knife and waited for David to walk by me. When he does, I leap out and stab the bastard deep in the back.

He swings his arm and hits me across the face, knocking me to the floor. "You stupid little…" he growled, turning towards me. I quickly scoot back and hide behind a booth.

He yelled again as Ellie had stabbed him. "That was good kids. It's gonna be alright." he chuckled sinisterly. His back was turned towards us so I was able to peek from behind the booth I was hiding.

He pulled out a machete from his pants. My eyes widened in horror because I realized that he was now going to kill us… I quickly moved to another booth before he could find me.

"You two keep surprising me. It's a shame you two couldn't come around. But it's too late now." David seethed, running in the lower dining area. I stay crouched as I run back towards the kitchen. He walks by the kitchen and I stab him again.

I immediately ran for my life away from him. "Run little rabbits, run." he growled, more angry now. I don't know what part of the restaurant Ellie was in and it worried me horribly.

My worst fear had come to reality when I heard the sound of struggling from the upper dining area. I quickly move to where they are and I see them lying on the floor. Ellie was laying on her stomach, looking lifeless.

"Ellie! No, no, no!" I cry, running to her. I grab her shoulders and start to shake her awake. "Please! Fuck, wake up! Goddammit, wake up!" I shout, tears streaming down my face. But she didn't wake up…


	28. Chapter 28 In Flames

I jog up to what looks like an old convenience store. I need to find Ellie and Enid. There were guys doing patrols and they didn't see me because of the thick snow.

I hid behind a car with my bow and arrow. I raise up and shoot down at least 3 guys then go to collect retrieving my arrows. I made it to another building through a couple of brick walls and shut the door behind me.

Turning on my light, I see Ellie's backpack and Enid's messenger bag sitting on a shelf. "What is this? Why the hell is Ellie and Enid's stuff here?" I murmur, picking them up. I go through a plastic tarp and see hanging dead bodies from the ceiling.

It startles me and I fall back. "Oh, Christ… I gotta find 'em. I gotta find 'em." I say, going through another room and walking to the front door. Opening it, I see that it was up in flames. "Holy shit… Ellie… Enid."


	29. Chapter 29 Knocked Out

"Ellie! Wake up!" I say, still shaking her. After a minute, she groaned in pain and rolled over on her belly. "Ellie! Oh thank god!" I say, feeling relieved that she woke up.

She looked up at me; she had a cut on the bridge of her nose and her face had drops of blood on it. She looked to her right and said, "Enid… He's not dead." I look over at him and see him moving a bit.

"C'mon… while he's down, let's get the fuck out of here." I say, helping her to her feet. She nodded and groaned as she put her arm around me. She was in chronic pain because she wasn't walking right; kind of dragging her feet a bit.

We started to head for the kitchen but we didn't get very far. Ellie gets ripped away from me again and I fall over to the floor with a yell. Then, I get kicked in my stomach with a hard kick, making me retch loudly. I hear Ellie getting kicked as well.

"I knew you two had heart. It's okay, to give up. Ain't no shame in it." David laughed. I tried to get up but I'm instantly knocked back down to the ground by a kick to my stomach again. "AGH!" I yelp, feeling my entire body overwhelm with nausea.

"You stay down. I'll come back to you when I'm finished with your infected girlfriend." David threatened, before kicking me again to keep me down. I hear Ellie getting kicked by David again while saying, "Just not your style is it?"

When I looked up, he was on top of her, straddling her to where she couldn't escape. Through my pain, I grabbed my knife. I scramble to my feet and run at David with my knife raised. "Get the fuck away from her, you bastard!" I scream, driving my knife into his shoulder.

He growled at this and managed to grab me by my throat tightly. I struggle to breathe and claw at his wrists. Ellie wasn't able to get up after being kicked so many times.

Tears welled up in my eyes, causing my vision to become hazy. My lungs were burning as they begged for air. I gagged and choked badly.

"You wait your turn, you stupid little girl." he seethed. He then throws me aside, I feel my head slam against the floor. The pain was horrendous and I couldn't move.

I laid on my back; I could feel blood start to ooze from my head. I felt so dizzy that I couldn't see straight. "E...Ellie… E…" I moan, feeling myself slowly black out.


	30. Chapter 30 Nightmares

While I was out, I ended up having another nightmare. And it wasn't the same nightmare that I've been having for the last few years. It was a different one. I was back in that burning restaurant.

There was no one around but myself. "Ellie?! Joel?! Where are you guys?!" I shout, running in the restaurant. I wanted to see them, I wanted to be with them.

Next thing I know, I feel my face being pressed down into the dark carpet. My head was starting to ooze blood and I started to feel dizzy. I didn't have to look to see who it was.

"Now that your girlfriend is dead, it's your turn, little rabbit." he taunted, making my stomach feel twisted. "You motherfucker!" I manage to yell. I couldn't struggle much because of his impossible strength. I was pinned, helpless.

This had to be my hell. I feel myself getting turned onto my back roughly, causing me to cry out. "You two really think you know me? Huh?" he seethed, once again putting his hands around my neck as he started to strangle me.

Looking to my right, I see Ellie laying a foot next to me, dead. She had been strangled to death. "No! Ellie!" I gag, tears sliding out of my blood covered cheeks.

His fingers dug into my flesh. I strained to breathe. It hurt like a son of a bitch. I looked up into his animalistic, non-human eyes. They glowed red; a sign of evil. Before my vision could darken, I feel something touch my fingertips.

It was my knife. I grab it tightly in my hand and stab the bastard deep in the throat, causing blood to shoot out. I pulled it out and stabbed him in the eye at least three times until the fucker died.

And then, to my horror, I see that… it wasn't David. It was Joel. I woke up with a yell and in a cold sweat.

My whole body was shaking and my heart was beating incredibly fast in my chest from visible fear. I found myself in an old motel room. For a moment, I thought I was the only one in this room.

It wasn't until I felt a hand touch my arm, causing me to jump in fear. "Enid, it's me." Joel's voice broke the silence. I look over to my right and I see him sitting next to the bed, watching over Ellie and I.

"What's wrong?" he asks. With a whimper, I reach out for him. He doesn't hesitate to come forward and bring me into a hug. I dug my fingers into his worn coat and started to softly cry.

His hand cradled the back of my head and he let me get it out. "Nightmare again?" he asked quietly. I nod, feeling a heavy, throbbing pain in my head. It caused me to wince.

"You split your head open pretty badly. You're gonna be dizzy for the next few days." he reminds me. "Oh…" I say, feeling a tight bandage around my head where the wound was.

It wasn't until I remember… Ellie! I start to look around the room in search of her. When my eyes found her sleeping on the bed, I felt relief wash over my body. "Is Ellie okay?" I ask, not tearing my eyes away from her.

"She's unconscious. Hopefully she'll wake up in due time." Joel replied. Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard this. I knew how she got in that state.

"You should try to get some rest. You're gonna need it with that injury." Joel said, laying me back down on the bed. I turned to my left side so that I was facing Ellie. I scooted closer to her, not wanting to leave her side.

"Hey, Enid. I'm gonna go find us some food to put in you and Ellie. If she wakes up while I'm gone, you tell her where I am. And keep your gun on you just in case." Joel tells me, getting his backpack and gun.

A part of me didn't want him to leave but at the same time knew that he had no choice. "O-Okay." I reply. Joel then leaves the motel room, leaving Ellie and I in the room.

I kept my eyes on Ellie's limp body. She had clean cuts on her face from the blows inflicted onto her. It scared me to death because I don't know what David did to her after I got knocked out.

Taking a deep breath, I found that it hurt to breathe. I forgot that David choked me before I got knocked out. Slowly, I sit up while holding my head. "I'll be right back, Ellie…" I say, standing up slowly so as to not give myself an unnecessary headache.

I made my way to where the bathroom was. Since it was still early in the day, there was enough light coming from the window that would make it easy for me to see myself in the mirror.

When I looked in the mirror, I realized that I hadn't looked at myself for a long fucking time. I did not look like the same person that was back in Boston. My blue eyes had bags underneath them along with dark circles that showed my fatigue. My black hair was messy.

My fair skin was pasty white from the blood loss. There was a bandage around my head and some blood had bled through the bandages to show where I got injured at. I also saw the strangulation markings on my neck.

I closed my eyes and felt tears streaming down my face. The pain that I was feeling was too much for me to handle. Then, I hear the sound of Ellie's soft crying coming from outside of the bathroom.

I turn to look at the door with slightly widened eyes before going back to where the beds were. My fatigued eyes see Ellie sitting up in the bed, her entire body curled up into a ball, looking like she was trying to make herself smaller. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and hugged them close.

She had a terrified and distraught look on her face, making my heart break. She looked like she was shaking too. Her face was buried in her sleeves. I walk to her and sit down with her.

"Ellie?" I say, reaching out to her. When my hands touched her, her entire body shivered at the contact. She lifted her head to look at me, her eyes overwhelming with tears. Never in my life had I ever seen her cry like this before. The only other time I did witness it is when we got separated.

I scoot closer to her and she reaches for me. She took a hold of my jacket and she pulled herself into my tiny frame. I immediately hug her back, keeping our bodies pressed together.

"What's wrong, Ellie?" I ask her softly, my hand stroking her reddish brown hair. "I… I thought you left me…" she whimpered, making my heart ache. "Oh Ellie… I wouldn't ever do that… You know that." I reply to her.

"Wh-Where's Joel? Why isn't he here?" she asks me, still hanging onto me. "He went to find food. He'll be back soon." I reply. I held onto her and tried to calm her down but her crying was unabated. I soon started to cry again, letting the tears fall onto her hair.

"When he was strangling you… I wanted to…" she said, referring to when David had a hold of my throat before I hit my head. "I know… I know. There's even evidence from it…" I tell her, remembering the strangulation markings on my throat.

After a few minutes of unsettling silence, we broke the hug. I took note of the way she was breathing; it looked like it was hurting her to take a breath. David must've hurt her ribs when he kicked her.

I put my hand on her bruised cheek; holding it gently. "We need to sleep Ellie. I don't know when Joel will be back." I tell her. "Okay…" she replied, laying back down. I lay back down with her.

My back was pressed up against her abdomen. Her arm was wrapped around my waist and our fingers once again intertwined. The nightmares were kept at bay for the rest of the evening.

After a while, Joel had returned with a few cans of food and some meat to hold us over for a little bit. He knew that Ellie had woken up so he decided to go ahead and get some food in us so we could recover faster.

We begin to eat the food Joel managed to find. "So, how're the two of you feeling?" Joel asked. "Like shit right now." Ellie answers for the both of us. "First the dog attack and now this. What's fucking next?" I say, referring to my head injury.

"Wait. Dog attack? When did this happen?" Joel asked. Ellie and I look at each other for a second. "A few days ago." I answer, feeling my stitched arm throb.

I stiffened up by even bringing up that fucking dog; it scared me so badly that I thought it was going to fucking kill me. "Let me see it." Joel asked gently. Slowly, I pull back my sleeve far back enough to show the stitches of my arm.

The purple around it had faded away but it was still swelled a little bit. "Holy shit. That's gonna leave one hell of a scar." Joel commented, seeing how jagged the bite was. I grin shortly before looking down.

"And besides physically, how're you two doin'?" Joel asked to which we both fell quiet. Neither one of us wanted to talk about what Ellie and I went through. I didn't want to relive those terrifying moments.

"Things happen. And we move on." Ellie says, taking my hand. He didn't know that I had to witness Ellie almost getting decapitated right in front of me; the sickening things that that bastard told us. I hated everything that that bastard did.

"Can we not talk about it?" I ask, making it obvious that I don't want to talk about any more of it. Joel sighed at our response. "Look, I know what… I said about moving on when things happen however this is a matter that we should talk about." Joel said, sounding like he was trying to find the right words.

The silence was uncomfortable. I slowly examined the chipped paint that was peeling off of the walls. Ellie and I didn't want to talk about what we went through even if it was healthy to do so.

"Alright. It's fine. Just… know that if there's ever a time where you two are comfortable enough to talk about it, I'm here." Joel said thoughtfully. I felt a tear stream down my dark circled face.

After a moment of sulking, Ellie notices how tired Joel looked. "Man, you look like shit. Have you gotten any sleep?" she asked. "Had more important things to worry about than sleeping. Besides, you both need it more than me." Joel replied.

He was subtly telling us that we needed to sleep. "Suit yourself. And if you're planning on sleeping on the floor, your backpack will work as a substitute pillow." I say, laying back down. Ellie laid down with me.

We each had our guns just in case we needed them. When I got comfortable, my eyelids started to feel heavy. They then closed on their own and I drifted off to sleep. Thankfully, the nightmares were kept at bay yet again.


	31. Chapter 31 Jefferson City

Winter alone made our journey more difficult than it already was since we moved out a few days later. I was still recovering from my head injury and Ellie still had her broken rib. We were still in pain. We both had horrible bruises on our torsos from being kicked around.

However, we had no choice but to move out towards the Northern Colorado-Wyoming border. Joel wanted us to connect to Highway 80. That neighborhood we stayed at was picked clean and our persistent hunger forced us to move out.

Joel wanted to avoid the city of Cheyenne because of the hordes of infected and hunters. We kept on moving through the fresh, ankle deep snow; some of which were several feet. Ellie and I stay close to Joel.

Ellie and I hadn't ever seen so much snow in our lives. It marveled at a crowd of trees nearby; they're branches being weighed down with the white, cold, blanket. Despite it being pretty, it was now nothing more than an embodiment of death and sorrow.

Ellie and I clung onto Joel as we trudged along. "It's kinda pretty huh?" Joel remarked. "Yeah." Ellie said numbly. "Sure." I add just as numbly.

Joel noticed that our jokester sides had been left behind back at Lakeside Resort. Our hearts had been frozen over to a block of ice. It was hard to move with our weakened muscles.

The snow had eventually stopped. Both of us shared the feeling of waking up alone in that room. I couldn't move nor speak. All we did was shiver in our shoes.

I closed my eyes and felt a few tears fall from my frostbitten face; I couldn't hold them back no matter how hard I tried. I looked over at Ellie, she was crying just like I was. Her breaths ended in a whimper because of her broken ribs.

The air around us was suddenly warmer and it took me a minute to realize that it was Joel hugging us. No words were spoken between the three of us. Ellie struggled to breathe because of her broken ribs.

After a little bit, we regained our composure. Joel breaks the embrace to look at us. Ellie wipes the tears away from her face. "Fuck. Sorry." she said. "I-I am too." I add, wiping the tears away from the heel of my hand.

Joel put a finger under our chins to get us to look up at him. "No need." he says with a smile, "Let's go. We still have a few miles before we hit Jefferson City." Ellie and I found ourselves smiling a little at his generosity.

Letting out our emotions is just what we needed at this moment in time. Joel wasn't the rock-hearted person Ellie and I had met back in Boston.

Just under an hour, we had made it to Jefferson City. Going to an unfamiliar city was always nerve-wracking because one never knows what they'll find within the city; infected or hunters. Ellie then spotted a sign poking out of the snow on the side of the highway.

I catch up with her and read the sign closely. "Jefferson City. Population 42,895." she read. My eyebrows raised in surprise. "Holy shit. Don't think either of us have ever seen that many people in our lives." I say with a smirk. "You're not kidding. That's more people than in Boston." Ellie replied, looking at me.

"Used to be one of the bigger cities back in the day. Now it's nothing but a ghost town. But let's find a place to settle down. Looking forward to sleeping indoors." Joel says. He was kidding because for the past few nights, the winters were harsh as fuck.

We had managed to find a large sleeping bag back in the town that we were holed up in along with a slightly damaged tent to keep the wind out. Between that torn tent, the sleeping bag, and our body heat, we were still victims to the bitter cold, and starved off frostbite.

The top of buildings started to come into view. Joel had his shotgun out so he'd be ready just in case we run into anything. Ellie and I also had our guns out while sticking close to Joel.

"Hopefully this place'll be deserted." he whispered to us. The three of us continue into the town, walking passed the decrepit remains of an old gas station that was marked by a faintly yellow seashell logo. "You guys think there's supplies in there?" I ask.

"Good lookin' out." Joel praised. "Yeah, there might be some good shit in there." Ellie agreed. We go through the convenience store. There was broken glass on the floor and some hung on the window as the snow drifted inside, covering the floors.

We'd scavenge through the shelves and hopefully find anything of use. But most of the shelves were picked clean unsurprisingly. Anything worth taking would be a hidden reward for us.

"C'mon. Let's see what's over here." Ellie says, pulling me with her. We searched through the shelves but we were unsuccessful. Joel had found a back room that was locked.

We follow him after finding another Savage Starlight comic, much to Ellie and I's delight. He had gotten the door open with his shoulder and the door creaked open. The smell of death hit our noses and I instantly covered it.

There was a pile of bones on the floor that was below an empty noose hanging from the ceiling. Joel flicked on his flashlight and the words, "_God forgive us all." _ written in old blood on the wall. "Holy shit…" Joel whispered. I couldn't form a sentence by the grotesque sight.

Ellie and I walked out in hopes of finding more stuff. But not long after, Joel had called Ellie and I back in there. However, there was something that I didn't see the first time walking in here.

There was an abundance of canned food, some medicine, and some bottles of unopened alcohol. "Well, I'll be damned." Joel said with a slight chuckle, picking up the alcohol bottle, "White Sauvignon Blanc." "What the hell is that?" I ask, confused.

"Some of the best wines out there. I haven't drunk this stuff in 25 years." he says. "What's wine?" Ellie asked. "Guess you'll have to find out." Joel says with a grin, "I don't think there's any underage laws no more."

Ellie and I lit up in anticipation but it dimmed a little bit when Joel put it in his backpack. We gather all that we could from those shelves before we continue on to Jefferson City.

The city, at first glance, seemed dead. No life whatsoever. No tracks, no posts, no human life. Ellie had turned and pulled me down a street marked East Ivinson Avenue and chuckled.

"Does this place remind you of anywhere?" Ellie called Joel. Joel came up to meet us and looked down the street. He glanced up the street and saw a church steeple above a tree line.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're back in Lincoln." Joel says. "Yeah, the only thing missing is that dickhead." Ellie says in her famous smartass tone. "Yeah, this town doesn't have infected. That's a plus." I add.

Joel has told Ellie and I, people tend to pack up things that they need when things go to shit. Things such as clothes, medical supplies, and any food that they can get. Anything that they can use to survive.

We had holed ourselves up in an empty house for the night. Joel had picked it for a couple of reasons: the windows were boarded up, and the best of all, it had a fireplace. After eating a decent meal Joel left Ellie and I to watch the fire while he searched for something in the kitchen.

When he did return, he sat down next to Ellie and I. He had three glasses in his hands. Ellie and I couldn't sit still as we held our cups in our hands.

"C'mon! Gimme some!" I begged, practically nagging at him. "Yeah, c'mon old man!" Ellie agreed, just as impatient. "Hold your horses or you two ain't gettin' any." Joel said as he opened the bottle. I crossed my arms and pouted.

He poured himself a glass. "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" Ellie nagged. He poured Ellie and I some but not as much as him.

"What the fuck?! Why do we only get half while you get a full glass?" I complain. "That isn't fair, man!" Ellie agreed. "Trust me, kiddos, you drink this much, I'll have to carry ya both. For the next few days, I'll be popping a goddamn stitch or two." Joel said, drinking his cup.

I made the mistake of chugging the drink down. The booze burned as it went down my throat. The second the taste touched my tongue, my eyes bulged wide. I started choking and gagging at the awful taste. I pounded my chest as I coughed.

"Ack! Gross!" I gagged, getting Ellie to laugh at my reaction. Joel chuckled with her. "Oh, you two think this is funny?!" I say, still coughing. "Mostly your reaction." Ellie said while laughing.

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, then you try it! See how you like it!" I say, giving a pout. She did so and her face instantly turned to disgust. "Blech!" she gagged.

"Ha! Not so good now is it?" I tease. "Oh shut up!" she coughed. Joel seemed to enjoy our petty bickering. Other than the awful taste, I also felt warm inside. "This offers the benefit of warmin' your body up on a cold night." Joel says as he finishes his glass.

After a while, we all got some sleep while the flames of the fire kept us warm during the night. I held onto Ellie's hand tightly as we slept, once again keeping the nightmares away.


	32. Chapter 32 Rupture

A few days had passed before we moved out. Less snow meant it'd be easier for us to move; our pace had improved relatively fast in comparison to the harsh winter. It wasn't the only thing that had improved; Ellie and I's mood had improved also.

Joel had a nightmare the other night when we were sleeping in that house. Ever since it, he hasn't spoken to us about it, Ellie and I noticed that he wasn't as gruff as he usually was while we were on the road. Yeah, he was soft in more intimate moments like Ellie and I but, he always kept his eyes open while we traveled.

"Hey, Ellie, Enid." he says to us as we walk across a bridge. "What?" Ellie replied. "Why couldn't the bike stand on its own?" he asked. My eyes widened in surprise.

Ellie and I both looked at each other with a look of surprise on our faces. Was the tough and noble Joel actually telling a joke? "You got us." I say, shrugging my shoulders.

"Because it was two-tired." he replied. We couldn't help it; Ellie and I started to laugh at that joke even though we tried to suppress it. "Good one!" Ellie laughed.

We came across an old ridge and went through a sketchy looking pass. I looked around and wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. I accidently bumped into Ellie while she bumped into Joel's back.

"Joel? What is it?" Ellie asked. Joel had stopped walking and looked around cautiously. By his demeanor, something was wrong.

"You two get behind me and don't leave my shadow." he whispered to us. Ellie and I did so we hid directly behind him, trusting him. "What's wrong Joel?" I ask, feeling my stomach turn with anxiousness.

"Perfect place for an ambush." he whispered, "I'm not sure if we're alone." "Well, we all know a thing or two when it comes to ambushes." Ellie whispers, grabbing onto my hand. "Quiet." he hushed, pulling his revolver out while instructing Ellie and I to do the same.

We moved forward slowly and with extra caution. Joel had been scanning the ridges on each side. Ten steps, twenty steps. The intensity of the situation was poignant.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a single voice. Our veins froze and we halted in our tracks. "That's far enough." the deep voice demanded.

Ellie and I hid more behind Joel's back so whoever was there didn't see us. "Take it easy. Not lookin' for trouble. Just hoping to pass through." Joel says tentatively. Ellie and I hear the men scowl. Their footsteps were heavy and slow.

Joel reaches behind him to make sure that Ellie and I were behind him. Ellie tightened her grip on my hand and I couldn't help but squeeze back. They were trying to negotiate with Joel about the supplies that we had.

He threw them some coffee that we found, some old duct tape, and some alcohol. But they weren't satisfied. "Say, whatcha hidin' back there?" a guy asked, knowing that Ellie and I were hiding behind Joel.

My heart sank to my feet and my stomach turned with undeniable fear. I glanced over at Ellie, her face was full of fear too. My heart hammered in my chest and I could hear it in my temples.

"You holding out on us, old man? You hiding a couple of sweet things behind you?" the same man said, ill-intent heavy on the motherfucker's voice. "Back off now. You let us be on our way." Joel said menacingly. "I don't believe that you're in any position to be giving out orders, motherfucker." another guy growled.

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the burning of tears start to fall down my cheeks. "How about that? You let us have some fun with those sweet things and we'll let you pass. Scouts honor." the sick bastard says. My heart jumped into my throat and my eyes widened in fear. I know what they were wanting to do with Ellie and I…

I point my gun at Joel's left side and shoot the fucker in the face, the bullet penetrating his cheek. He falls to the ground, dead. Ellie takes her gun and shoots the other fucker in the eye. The third guy was shot through the neck and chest by Ellie and I.

All three guys fell over, dead and slumped onto the crimson colored snow below them. I held my gun with both trembling hands, smoke rising from the barrel. My breathing was quick and full of fear.

Ellie went over to get the supplies and I heard her mutter something but it was too low for me to understand. My hands were shaking so badly that I didn't have the strength to hold my gun and I let it fall out of my hands and into the snow below.

Ellie and I tried our hardest to hide our inevitable anger but it failed us. "Ellie? Enid?" Joel said. "What?" Ellie curtly says, giving him a sideways glance as she walks over to me. More and more tears started to blur my vision and my bottom lip started to quiver.

"You fucking heard what they said, Joel. You heard what they were going to do…" I quiver, my entire body trembling. Words couldn't express the feelings that coursed through our veins. Despite Ellie and I trying our hardest to keep our composure, it wasn't working.

Joel didn't hesitate to bring us into his caring arms. I instantly grip onto his weathered coat, my fingers digging into the old fabric. Our legs weakened and we fell to the ground.

At this point, our sobs became uncontrollable and we let it all out into Joel's chest. We were once again put on the doorstep of sexual assault no thanks to this cruel, unforgiving, fucked up world. It ruptured the wounds that were slowly starting to heal.

Ellie and I had been doing much better despite the dire circumstances. All those demons had resurfaced again… "It's okay, baby girls… let it out." he says soothingly. And we did.

I don't think I've cried this much since Ellie and I were separated when we were kids. It's still an unpleasant thought that didn't cross my mind for the longest time.

After what felt like hours, we gathered the strength to move on. However, both Ellie and I were mentally drained, our faces facing downwards, lost in our thoughts. All we did was hold Joel's hands as we walked beside him quietly.

The orangey-yellow sun was starting to lean towards the other side of the sky, meaning we'd have to find shelter for the night. We soon came across a decent looking hotel that was covered in ice and snow. "Outlaw Inn. Sounds like my kind of place. What do you think, kiddos?" Joel asked us, shaking our hands to pull us back to reality.

"Sure." Ellie said distantly. "Sounds great." I add quietly. Joel wasn't expecting our reaction to be that but after what we've been through, what can you do?

The last few hours of walking, Ellie and I were both numb to everything around us and Joel didn't know how to remedy it.

He took the liberty of getting through in the Inn. He used his shoulder to open the door just enough for us to get through. While he was doing this, I held Ellie's hand tightly. Our fingers intertwined with one another.

We squeeze inside and Joel shuts the door behind us. The interior of the hotel wasn't anything too extravagant; it had a simplistic and rustic theme to it.

"Alright. Let's go pick a room." Joel said. He led us down the hallway and we searched the rooms until we found one that was pristine enough for us to stay in. It had a queen sized bed, intact windows with torn curtains, and dark carpeting.

Joel started to search for anything of value. However, Ellie and I weren't interested in searching for anything this time. We sit down on the bed, our eyes staring at the carpet.

Joel noticed our absence and came to sit down next to us. I leaned forward, arms crossed, a frown on my face, and my lap while looking down in melancholy. Ellie was the first to break the deafening silence.

"What choice did we have…?" she muttered. "The worst kind." Joel replied to her rhetorical question. I take a deep breath and bite my bottom lip.

"Thanks Joel." I say, a small smile stretching on my face. "For what?" Joel asked. "For keeping us together. We don't know what we'd without you." Ellie said, wrapping her arm around me and got us to lean on Joel.

"Well, you two will never have to find out. I can promise you two." Joel said in reassurance.


	33. Chapter 33 Bonding

As expected, sleep wasn't happening for me. Not just because the bed felt lumpy, it was because of another bad dream. It wasn't the dream I'd usually have, not about the incident with David, but it was about that fucking dog attacking me.

I awoke with a gasp and sat up quickly. In a panic, I pull up my coat sleeve and look at the jagged bite mark that stood out like a sore fucking thumb. I closed my eyes and slowly remembered how it happened.

Goddammit, I'm so fucking stupid. Looking to my right, I see that Joel and Ellie were still asleep. I figured I needed a moment to myself and leave them alone.

I slowly get out of the bed so as to not wake them up. The weather outside had gotten worse; the blizzard had made it hard for me to see outside of the window. I touch the window and see some visions flash in front of my eyes.

Those images scared me so badly that I had kept it to myself; I never told anyone about what I saw. I backed away until my back touched the wall. The coolness of the wall touched my back and I slid down until I was sitting on the floor.

I pulled my legs up to my chest and I hugged them, burying my face in my arms with a sniffle. I stayed in that position for about 5 minutes before looking up. In my peripheral vision, I saw something sticking out of Ellie's backpack.

Feeling curious, I get back to my feet and walk over to her backpack. When I opened it, I saw a worn down piece of paper. I take it out and instantly tear up at what it was. It was a letter that Ellie wrote… to me.

"_Enid, I wanted to leave another message for you. I gotta say, this transfer to the Boston QZ is completely fucking unfair. Over the soldiers thinking that we're too rambunctious to stay together. I'd give anything to be by your side again. But we can write to each other, and we can get good at it. Don't you forget otherwise I'll kick your scrawny ass for it. Remember, we're always together. Even when we're apart, you'll still be my partner in crime. Don't forget me. I will always love you. Ellie." _

I closed my eyes and let the tears fall out and onto the paper. I didn't know that she wrote me this. I then feel a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump.

"Enid, it's just me. Are you okay?" Ellie asked from behind me. "Oh… Ellie. I didn't hear you wake up." I say, sniffling. "Yeah, it was a bit colder on my right side." she said, looking down at what I was holding in my hands.

"What is that?" she asked. I look at the letter before handing it to her. "Oh… I forgot I wrote this to you." she said, a bit stunned that I had found it. "How come you never sent me this?" I ask her.

"I was gonna send it to you, Enid. But… those shoulders wouldn't let me. It was as if they didn't want us to be in any form of contact." she said, folding up the paper and putting it in my messenger bag. "Oh… I see. Those fucking assholes." I say, unsurprised at this.

"You truly do care." I say with a grin. "Of course I care. I wouldn't have written that if I didn't." she replied. We went beside the wall and let Joel sleep. He needed it more than we did.

The two of us talked away for a good hour or two about random shit. It felt good to actually sit and talk with Ellie. Then, as we sat together, I remembered something.

"Ellie?" I ask, my arms hugging my legs. "Yeah?" she replied. "I've been meaning to ask you, back at that restaurant, why did you kiss me?" I ask, already knowing the answer to that. I wanted to still hear her reason for it.

She instantly blushed and looked away for a minute. "I couldn't help it, Enid. I thought that… that he was going to kill us. I had to do it." she answered. My heart sped up when she said that. "You don't think it was…" she asked me. "No. No, I didn't think it was weird. I was more stunned than anything." I answer.

After a while, Ellie looks at me and she moves some of my messy bangs out of my face. "Hey, how about we fix this?" she asked, referring to my ponytail. "How so?" I ask, turning around so that my back was facing her. "You'll see." she replied, pulling the ponytail out of my hair.

My shoulder length hair fell down. She pulled some back and it into a ponytail, leaving the rest down to cover the back of my neck. My bangs covered a portion of my forehead.

We went into the bathroom and some light illuminated the bathroom just enough to where we could see. I inspected myself and smiled at Ellie's work. "Thanks, Ellie. I like it." I say, looking at her. "No problem, Enid. I'd say it's a good look for you." she replied. "Maybe I should do the same for you." I say. "Oh, no. You're not touching my hair. Not happening." she replied playfully.

We shared a laugh before going back to bed. After all the shit that we've been through, things were starting to finally look up.


	34. Chapter 34 Cleanse

It had been a couple of weeks. Spring was starting to break through slowly but surely. The days grew much longer the longer Joel, Ellie, and I covered suit.

Grass started to poke through patches of snow and a gentle spring breeze blew a soft warmth of the three of us. Birds started their migration from the warmer southern lands and their calls echoed through the air.

This morning was a pretty spring morning and it almost made us forget about the devastation of the world, if only just. After about an hour, we came to a new town with a name that I couldn't read and we walked along a road that was between a river and a rock face. Joel had observed the sparkling water that was in front of us.

"Hey, Ellie, Enid, I sure could get a refreshment. C'mon." he beckoned as he started to walk down the back. Ellie and I followed behind him nervously. When we reached the river, he crouched down and scooped up some of the cool water.

He washed his face and the grime, sweat began to wash away. Ellie and I sit down by the bank and watch him quietly. Joel pulled up the flap of his buttoned shirt and revealed his puncture exit wound. The stitches had fallen out weeks ago and there was nothing left but a dark colored scar.

I also pulled back my sleeve so I could examine my own scar. Just like Joel's stitches, mine had fallen out as well, leaving nothing but a brownish colored scar. When I touched it, it was smooth and it didn't hurt.

Ellie was also examining the scar she had on her wrist, running her fingertips over it. There were little white bumps surrounding the bite mark. "You two hadn't said much since ya'll woke up. Anything on your minds?" Joel asked us.

I looked ahead of us, a frown on my face. We just kept our mouths closed. Ellie breathed out with a bit of frustration.

"You guys know it's me you're talkin' to here." Joel says. "Agh, sorry. It's just… it sounds stupid when we say the words in our heads." Ellie replies. Joel gets down to our eye level. "You two don't need to worry about what it sounds like. I'm not gonna think any less of ya'll." he said, continuing to rinse off.

I rub my head and groan, feeling the smooth scar on the left side of my forehead where I split my head open. "We can't help but think about what happened back at that warehouse…" I say, feeling myself starting to struggle with my sentence. But Ellie saves the rest of what I was trying to say.

"And what… ha-happened back at Lakeside…" she stuttered. Tears formed in her emerald green eyes and in my ocean blue eyes. I quickly wipe them away with the heel of my hand.

"Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't been there." Ellie said. Joel looks back at us, "Ellie, Enid, we've been over this. I told you two I'm not going anywhere. Why dwell on that?" I look at him then back at the water with Ellie.

"Joel, how's it that you're never scared?" Ellie asked. "To be honest with ya both, I'm scared all the time." he answers. I glance at him skeptically. "Really? You sure as hell hide it well." I reply.

He shrugged, "Well, everyone is scared almost all of the time. It's right there between life and death." "What are you scared of?" Ellie asked. He then stared at the water for a brief moment, "Loss." Ellie and I look at each other for a second. We both contemplated on that word.

We equally understood what it meant and how much it must weigh on Joel. He must've suffered twice as many losses as Ellie and I. He lost Tess. When we met them back in Boston, we still don't know what their relationship depth really was. But there had to be something more between them than just smuggling partners.

Ellie and I had also lost people; not just each other. But it didn't compare to losing a daughter. It made me think of the photograph of Sarah and him that Ellie had taken. We don't even know how the whole thing happened.

Then, I feel the sudden splash of cold water hit me in the face. "HUA! What the fuck?!" I yelp, jumping up to my feet. Ellie had been splashed in the face also by the freezing water.

"Oh, you're so gonna pay for that!" I say, giving a playful yet angry stare. "Uh-huh." Joel smugly replied. Ellie and I smirk at each other and we both ambush him by jumping onto him. Joel didn't expect this and ended up losing his footing.

The three of us tumble into the cold river. The second the cold water made contact with my skin, I let out a shriek. Ellie also shrieks by the freezing water.

"It's fucking freezing! Agh!" I yelp, hurrying to get out of the water. "Instant regret! Instant regret!" Ellie shouted, dragging herself up to the bank. "Yeah, you two didn't think that through, did ya?" Joel asked as he shook the water from him, "Let's lie those the sun and dry off."

Instantly, I took off my blue-green coat as well as my black long sleeve shirt so that I was wearing my grey undershirt and laid them on a rock. Ellie took off her red striped button up shirt and her thermal and laid them on the same rock as my clothes. Joel had traded the soaked button up with a dry shirt that was in his backpack.

I was shivering from the air and cold water. Ellie hugged me so we'd share some body heat. We sat by the riverbed and let the sun absorb us and felt the gentle breeze flow by. I held onto Ellie's hand gently and she squeezed back.

Birds flew overhead while chirping, getting us to smile. We couldn't have felt so much better.


	35. Chapter 35 Evanston

Spring had finally broken through. There was nothing but green as far as the eye could see. The weather was much warmer now. Foliage was growing from the cracked long forgotten road. Leaf-covered vines scaled walls, reclaiming what was once theirs. The warm late-afternoon soon draped itself over the town of Evanston.

The three of us walked into Evanson and Joel covered his eyes from the sun so he could see. "Ellie, Enid, let's go into town and search for supplies. We'll stay here tonight." Joel said, walking down the embankment. "Right behind you." Ellie called. "Yeah, lead the way." I call too. We follow suit after him.

There was a large building that greeted us as we made it into the small town. The sign read, "Dolla General" above the front door. The R was shattered onto the concrete below the sign. "Hmm, might find something worth our while in there. But don't expect anything fancy though." Joel gestured.

"Why not?" Ellie inquired. "This is a dollar store. Either of you hear of those?" Joel asked. Ellie and I glanced at one another; we took a wild guess. "Nope but since this is a dollar store, everything costs a dollar?" I reply.

"Near enough." Joel said, bending down to pick up a lead pipe that was laying on the ground, "Let's go check it out." "Now that's too good for a guess." Ellie said, hands on her hips. "Well, with dollar being in the title, I think it was pretty obvious." I reply. "True that." Ellie replied. We follow Joel to the store.

We end up finding a way inside because the front door was barricaded from the inside. There was a broken window that was previously used to gain entry; glass littered the concrete. Joel was the first inside by crouching under a support beam and into the building. His boots crunched on the glass that was on the floor.

"Alright, c'mon." he tells Ellie and I. Ellie was the first to go in before me. As I step inside, I feel my leg get caught on a shard of glass cut my right leg. "Ow!" I wince, gripping onto my leg, which was already bleeding.

"Enid?" Ellie said, being alerted by my cry of pain. "Damn glass cut my leg." I reply, seeing the blood start to flow down my leg. Joel noticed this too and he kneeled down to inspect it. "Let's get that fixed." Joel said, having me sit down on a table.

He went through his backpack for some medical supplies. The cut was on my lower calf so I'd have to pull up my pant leg. When I did, it caused me to wince.

The cut wasn't deep enough for stitches but I would have to wear a bandage on it. Joel cleaned off the blood and the cut before wrapping it up tightly with the bandage. I clenched my teeth when he put the rubbing alcohol on the cut.

Afterwards, I cover my leg back up. "You okay?" Ellie asked, helping me down from the table. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good now." I reply, looking down at my blood soaked jeans for a minute.

Afterwards, we started to search this store; the fading sunlight shined on the aisles. There wasn't anything in here worth taking other than some scissors and a roll of tape. Then, we all hear the sound of shuffling along with a dull thud coming from the back.

The three of us crouch in unison. "Sounds like runners." Ellie whispered. I listened to the all too familiar wheezing and agonizing moans from the back of the store. Ellie and I stick close to Joel as we see at least four or five runners hunched over, others shuffling in the back aisle.

Everytime we encountered infected, we were all put at risk. It was something that became less and less comfortable with time. Yeah, Ellie and I were competent with it but Joel had become more protective over us.

Instead of confronting them head-on, Joel gestures for us to go back the way we came in. Ellie and I comply and start to sneak our way back to the broken window. Then, Joel accidentally bumps into something, causing said item to fall onto the floor with a loud crash.

The commotion had alerted the infected and they screeched loudly before charging at us. "Shit! Get ready!" Joel warned, hurrying out of the building. The three of us quickly got out of the building before the infected could catch us.

Their shrieks broke the silence over Evanston, and they started to break through the intact windows. "How many bullets do you guys have left?" Joel asked, raising his pipe up over his shoulder. "Five." I answer, holding up my gun with my finger on the trigger. "Three." Ellie adds.

"Make 'em count." Joel advised. The first runner breaks through the glass and charges at us while screeching and moaning. Joel swung the pipe as hard as he could so that the runner's head was caved in.

It was disgusting. Fungus was forcing its way under the runner's skin, white moldy growths were starting to appear in various places on its skin. These runners must've just turned not that long ago.

The next runner broke through the store and was charging at Joel. However, Ellie and I had shot it down to keep it off of him. As I was reloading, a third runner charged at me and ended up grabbing me by my arms.

"Agh!" I cry out, fighting it off with my hands. "Get the fuck away from her!" Ellie yelled, stabbing the fucker in the back of the head. Before long, a clicker stumbled out of the store, tripping over the window sill.

It jumped to its feet and started using the echolocation clicking sound; swinging its arms around wildly. "Now would be a good time to use those last bullets of y'all's!" Joel said to us, bending down to get something out of his backpack.

Ellie and I aimed our guns at the clicker as steadily as we could. We then begin to shoot the clicker, causing it's fungal plates to fly off it. The fucker stumbled back from the impact while belting out angered shrieks.

It regained it's balance, it started to wave its arms towards Ellie and I. I shot it again but that didn't stop it. I tried shooting again but the gun clicked, indicating that the gun was empty.

"Shit, I'm out!" I cry. "I am too!" Ellie shouted. Joel then comes to the rescue with his improvised weapon and swung it into the side of the clicker's fungal covered head. The blade of the scissors buried itself into its head and the clicker fell to the ground and convulsed in pain.

Joel pulled the weapon out of its head and he stomped down on the clickers head, rendering it still and quiet. I lowered my gun slowly and put it back in my jeans. "That was…" Joel started. "Too damn close." Ellie and I finish. We joined him on the pavement.

"You two alright?" Joel asks us. "Other than my leg, I'm good." I reply, catching my breath. "Yeah, me too. You?" Ellie asked. "I'm good. Let's have a look at these guys then we can quit this place." Joel replied, starting to examine them.

Ellie and I started to examine the bodies, looking for clues or anything that they could loot. Whoever these people were, they looked like they passed through this town not that long ago. A few of them had backpacks on. They could be travelers like us. Then, I see the familiar symbol of a Firefly on a runner's armband.

"Look at this. They look like…" I start. "Fireflies." Joel finished, "Well, were anyway. They must've passed through here." "Do you think that they were going to Salt Lake City too?" Ellie asked. "Yeah probably." Joel replied.

"Might have gotten bit by this clicker here. They have bites here and there." Joel said, pointing to the various bite marks on the runners. It made me visibly skeptical that the Fireflies weren't going to be where they said they were at.

Ellie was also discouraged; rubbing her arm nervously. "Joel… what happens if we make it to Salt Lake City… and there aren't any Fireflies?" she asked. Joel sighed and glanced down for a moment, "I reckon we'll cross that bridge if we come to it."

He knew how much this mission means to Ellie. I know how much it means to her. Marlene wanted him to take both of us to the Fireflies. Honestly, I don't know why Marlene had me come with them.

Ellie's the one who's immune and the hope for humanity, not me. But… just because of that, I'm not changing my mind. I love them dearly and quitting now will show that I'm a fucking coward.

After rummaging through the bags of the infected, we see that they had only little. Afterwards, we move on further into Evanston. Then, a loud growl erupted in my stomach.

"Sounds like someone's awake." Ellie giggled, poking my stomach. "Hey, I can't help that we haven't eaten in a few days. Don't tell me that you're not hungry also." I reply. As if on cue, Ellie's stomach growled too, causing her to blush in embarrassment. "Well… now that you mention it." she said with a shy giggle. "Yeah, that's what I thought." I reply.

Other than that wine we drank, it had held us over for a good while. I actually wanted to sock Ellie for how she laughed at my reaction. Still don't know how Joel likes that shit.

We soon came across a fast food restaurant that had a faded golden arch that caught our eye. "Hey, you guys think there's food in there?" Ellie asked. "I hope so. I'm famished." Joel says, walking to it. "There better be. I'm fucking starving." I add, jogging behind him.

The abandoned building had been reclaimed by a tree that had grown through the sidewalk, dismantling a corner of the foundation and pushed its way through the glass and bricks. Therefore, it provided us a way in.

Joel vaulted through the window and reached back to help Ellie and I inside. The inside wasn't all that spectacular. The floor was covered with dry leaves from the previous fall.

Joel headed for the kitchen. I see Ellie rubbing her rib tenderly. "How's your rib?" Joel asked her. "I think it's just about healed. Doesn't hurt as much anymore. What about your head, Enid?" Ellie replied, turning to me.

"Yeah, how's your head and arm?" Joel asked. "They feel much better. Especially since my stitches fell out last week." I answer, rubbing my scarred arm. "Glad you two are feeling better." Joel said, hoping over the counter to search the kitchen.

I rolled up my sleeve so that my bite mark was uncovered. Seeing it made me see visions of that terrifying experience. I close my eyes for a minute and try to shake it off.

When I reopen eyes, I saw that same fucking dog jumping on me, causing me to fall back against a table with a sharp gasp. "Whoa! Enid, are you okay?" Ellie yelped, coming to my aid.

I shake my head and hold it in my hand with my face screwed. "Fuck… What happened?" I asked, feeling my head pound. "You totally blacked out. What's wrong?" she asked me in concern.

With a shaky breath, I recover my arm so I wouldn't have to look at my bite scar. "Enid, talk to me." Ellie said, sitting on the table with me. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak out like that." I say, shaking my head.

"Enid, look at me." Ellie said gently, taking my hand. I look at her. "You got nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault that it happened." Ellie said, looking at me straight in the eyes.

The evening sun made her green eyes sparkle in a way that made my heart skip a beat. They were really beautiful. "Don't let it get to you… okay?" she said, bringing me into a comforting hug. I hug her back and close my eyes. After a minute, we broke the hug.

"You feel better now?" she asked. I felt my chest rise in relief and I smiled at her. "Yeah. I'm fine now. I'll try not to freak out like that again." I replied, knowing that I couldn't keep that promise.

"You better not." Ellie said, pulling me off of the old dining table. Ellie always found a way to help me back on my feet; she always knew. Joel then comes out of the kitchen empty handed.

"Alright, there's nothing here. Let's get a move on." he says, getting ready to leave. Ellie and I follow him back outside.

Three blocks down the road we had found a grocery store called Wal-mart. We hoped that there was something worth eating in there. The front doors were already open so we went inside.

The second we walked in, we saw signs of the craziness that happened after the outbreak. The shelves were empty, glass was broken, and some displays were knocked over. Everything had gone to shit in here.

"Damn, what a shithole this place is." Ellie commented. "Yeah, what the fuck happened here?" I ask, looking around the area. "Well, after everything went down, people quit caring about each other. They only cared about themselves and their loved ones. A shit ton of looting went down and people were reckless about it. Stores such as this that were filled with food were the first to get hit. After a while, they moved on to neighborhoods just like the one in Pittsburgh." Joel explained as he looked through the shelves.

"Holy shit, people were fucking crazy." I say. "I'll say." Ellie agreed. We scavenged through the shelves and found some beets, corn, sardines, and a can opener. Not the best thing that we could've found but it was better than starving to death.

After that, we go to find a place to stay for the night. We found a few older houses in Evanston that we saw as quaint. However, we found the right one that was in the best condition.

Joel took out what food we found and did his best to make a decent meal out of it. Ellie held an unlabeled can in her hands that she happened to find. "What do you think's in this?" she asked me. "Don't know. Let's find out." I reply, "Joel, toss that here." He tossed the can opener over to us so we could open it.

Ellie punctured the can and a dark liquid started to ooze out. She put the can up to her nose and smelled it. Her face lit up with anticipation. "Enid, you gotta smell this. It smells amazing!" she said, giving me the can.

I take the can and take a sniff of it. It had a rich, pleasing scent to it. I dip my finger onto it and dabbed it on my tongue.

My taste buds rejoiced as the flavor bursted with sweetness. "Whoa! Holy shit!" I exclaimed, a smile widened on my face. "Is it good?" Ellie asks. "Are you kidding?! Try it! It's fucking awesome!" I cry excitedly.

She takes the can and tastes the dark liquid. She jumped in excitement too at the delicious taste. "Whoa! Joel, what is this?!" Ellie exclaimed, pushing the can to Joel. He chuckled at our enthusiasm. He tasted the liquid and a deep, honest laugh came from his throat.

"That right there… is Hershey's syrup." he tells us. "You mean… it's chocolate?" Ellie asked, a sparkle in her eyes. "Yep." he replied. "No fucking way! Chocolate comes in liquid form?!" I exclaim, grabbing the can back from him so we could indulge ourselves again.

I took a few gulps of it before letting Ellie drink it. "Used to be. Back then, these were hard to come by. They usually came in bottles. This could be the last can in existence." Joel explained. "This is the best thing we've ever tried." Ellie said, looking at me. "You're goddamn right." I say, taking another gulp of it.

"Hey! Don't drink it all!" Ellie exclaimed, trying to get it from me. I couldn't help but laugh at her impatience and hold it up high enough so she couldn't reach it. "Agh! No fair!" she complained. I smirk and say, "Finders keepers, losers weepers! Call this karma for laughing at me with the wine!" I laugh, doing my best to keep it from her.

"You're such a bitch for this!" she laughed. "Oh, I know it." I laugh, finally giving her the can. She gives me a playful shove. She drinks more of it.

"Pace yourselves with that chocolate, kiddos. Don't want to make yourselves sick. We hit Utah tomorrow and I'm not carrying you two to the border." Joel reminded us. Ellie reluctantly put the can down.

"Fine. We're gonna need it to wash down that 'food' you found." Ellie said. "Same. It's gonna taste a hell of a lot better than this shit." I agree. "Yeah. You two are right." Joel said, showing the same disgust as Ellie and I.

We barely manage to shove that food down our throats before finishing up that can of delicious chocolate syrup before settling down for the night.


	36. Chapter 36 Weight

A deep ache churned in my stomach, causing me to wake up feeling sick. I groan and slouch over. It didn't take me long to realize that it was the damn chocolate and the other foods that were making me feel this way. Ellie had eaten more than me so she'd have to feel what I was feeling.

That goes to show that too much chocolate syrup doesn't sit well in your stomach after a while. I opened my tired eyes and the first thing I see is Joel, who was out cold asleep. A loud snore confirmed that. And Ellie wasn't here either.

I lift myself from the old mattress that I was laying on. Standing up alone felt like hell. Losing my lunch was the last thing that I wanted to do so I took soft yet deep breaths to compose myself. And I didn't want to wake Joel up over a stomach ache.

I searched the empty house for Ellie and softly called her name a few times. "El-" I say before a distinct, "I miss you." interrupted my search. It was coming from the front porch. Who was she referring to?

She was sitting on the steps of the front porch, holding something in her hands. Whatever she was looking at was making her sad. I had to find out what it is because I can't feel better until she's better.

"Ellie?" I quietly call, accidently making her jump out of her skin. "Holy shit, Enid! Don't do that." she cried, looking at me. I couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction. "Heh heh, sorry about that." I say, sitting on her right side, "Whatcha looking at?"

Her face dropped when those words left my mouth. "Ellie?" I ask in concern. It seemed to bother her that I asked. "You... You don't have to tell me, Ellie. It's okay." I tell her, looking at her. She breathed in deeply. "No... it's fine. I can always be open with you." she replies, opening her hand to reveal what she was holding.

It was a Firefly Pendant. She handed it to me. I look it over carefully and see the name on it. 'Riley Abel.' That name jumped into my throat. Was this the Riley that Jesse was telling me about? It had to be. "Enid? What's wrong?" Ellie asked. I shake my head and groan. "That name... sounds familiar to me. That's all." I tell her, giving the pendant back.

"How so?" Ellie asks. "I... uh... my other friend... Jesse. Told me about her. How he was working with her in the Fireflies." I reply, looking away from her. "Enid... I didn't know. Why haven't you told me?" Ellie asks. "I didn't want you to be disappointed that I replaced you. I mean... you're my best friend and... I don't want to do anything to hurt you." I say to her, feeling sick.

"Enid... You aren't hurting me. And... I'm not hurting you." she tells me. I look over at her with a sliver of tears in my blue eyes. "Why do you say that?" I reply, wiping my face.

"Because I can't tell you how alone I felt after the soldiers fucking separated us. We each found someone to fill that void in our hearts. Even though I met Riley and became her friend, I never ONCE forgot about you. We didn't replace each other at all." she explained to me. My cheeks instantly became red and hot.

"Oh... I see. I missed you just as much. I fucking hated those soldiers because of what they did. But... I never forgot about you." I tell her, seeing her own face become red.

We were both relieved to get those off of our chests. It was quite a relief to hear that she wasn't angry with me about having Jesse in my life for a short time. We had those friends to fill the void of our separation.

We then fell silent for another few minutes. Ellie pulls out the robot that we gave to Sam before he turned. Just looking at it made me feel sad and guilty. I should've said something to them the following night about Sam being bitten. Why didn't I say anything? I mean, I know that nothing could be done to save him but... it would've been good to tell Henry and them.

"Do you think... Sam was still there when he attacked us?" I asked. She shivers at my question. "Maybe. He probably knew what he was doing. But he had no control over it." she replied sadly. "I knew I should've said something about him being bit. I was selfish to keep it to myself that night. Hell, he didn't want me to tell." I say, putting my head in my hands.

"You and me both. We should've said something different to him." Ellie replied, feeling just as guilty as me. I feel a tear slide down my face. I wiped it away before Ellie noticed. We once again felt silent. After what we've been through during winter, we both knew just how much it had affected us.

I rolled up my sleeve that had my scarred arm. Instantly, I started to quiver and saw that goddamn dog again.

"Enid? Enid, what's wrong?" Ellie asks me, pulling me out of my flashback. I glance at her with shocked widened eyes. "S-Sorry. I... I freaked out again." I say, looking at the ground in front of me. I quickly covered my jagged arm so I wouldn't have to look at it.

Ellie saw the distraught on my face but didn't say anything. She knew just how traumatized it made me. I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky for a moment. Calming down, I glance over at Ellie. She was looking up at the sky too, seeming lost in thought.

Being with her made me feel so much better. It helped me forget all of what we went through for a brief moment. Her words danced around in my head and I grinned. Her hand was sitting on the old wooden porch. I ended up covering it with my own. She instantly blushed deep red. I glanced away for a moment.

Suddenly, I feel her lips touch my cheek. My whole face lit up with surprise and I looked at Ellie with widened eyes. She was glancing away bashfully. I couldn't help but feel my heart race at this. She had kissed my cheek; I didn't see that coming at all like when she kissed me back in Lakeside.

It lasted for about 6-7 seconds before we pulled away, our foreheads resting on one another. This made me realize just how much I love Ellie. I loved her so fucking much.

"Morning kiddos." Joel said to us. We both jumped out of our skin when he spoke. We look at him in sync.

"Joel, you scared us!" Ellie said. "Jesus, we didn't hear you coming." I say, out of breath. He chuckled and walked to us. "Bein' sneaky is my specialty. So why're you two up so early.

"Bad dream. Enid?" Ellie said, looking at me. "Same." I reply, taking Ellie's hand in mine. "Really? Tell me about them." Joel asked in concern. "It was about us overdosing on chocolate syrup and waking up with an upset stomach." Ellie said bashfully. "Yeah… but it was real." I add, pushing my sleeve back down to cover my bite mark.

Joel took a seat next to us and said, "Told y'all so." We sat together in silence as we watched the morning sun rise over the horizon. It bathed the porch in a warm, orangey glow.

After a while, we finally made it to the Utah border. Ellie and I hear Joel read a faded sign that was I-80. "Just a few days to go and we should be there." Joel said to us.

That information sent a wave of inevitable sorrow because that meant our journey would soon come to an end. We don't know what will come of the end of this journey. I don't want to let Ellie go… I never wanted to let her go again.

The sun was high up in the sky but the day was cool. Ellie buttoned up the red striped flannel to stay warm. Unfortunately, we had to climb a set of mountains in order to reach Salt Lake city. That's where Joel said that we had to go.

I hadn't noticed that we had fallen behind some. "C'mon, kiddos. Keep up." Joel instructed. Ellie and I jogged up next to him while holding hands still.

"Something on your minds today?" Joel asked, seeing our melancholy demeanor. "Guess you could say that." Ellie answered. "Well, tell me about it." Joel asked softly.

Glancing at Ellie, I see Ellie looking down at her feet. She didn't want to speak about it. I didn't want to say what either. "Yeah, can we not talk about it?" Ellie said. "Yeah, can we drop it?" I ask, squeezing her hand.

"You two do know I can tell when you're lying." Joel replied. "We just don't want to talk about it, okay?" Ellie said, a hint of irritation lingering on the words. Joel decided to back off from that. "Sorry. I ain't trying to… interrogate you two or anything. Only worried is all."

Ellie looked remorseful for snapping at him. "It's fine, Joel. Thanks for checking on us, really. It's just… it's our problem to deal with. We don't want to be a burden." I say to him.

He stopped walking and walked to us. He puts a hand on our shoulders. "Ellie, Enid, don't ever feel like that. You two can always confide in me, okay?" he tells us. "Okay." Ellie and I reply meekly.

"We've been through hell together. Don't keep something from me when you two know I can help you deal with it." Joel says. "We don't think you can in this case. It's… ugh… it's something that Enid and I have to deal with, okay?" Ellie said, subtly squeezing my hand.

"Okay." he said, deciding to leave it be.

The outskirts of Salt Lake City started coming into view. Our redemption had finally met our eyes. "Well, look at that. We finally made it, kiddos." Joel said, looking over the city.

We continue to walk into the city. Everything that brought us to this point started to weigh on my mind. Boston, Lincoln, Pittsburgh, Jackson… Our minds trailed away, not wanting to remember that horrible winter again.

It was unbelievable that we had actually made it; the afternoon when we had met Joel felt like years ago. Neither one of us had expected to grow close to someone that we had a negative first impression of before. We couldn't help but smile at him.

Now that our journey was about to end, that same fear started creeping in my veins. We still don't know what would happen when we saw those doctors. Would Joel and I stick around? Would he take me back to Boston? Would Ellie come with us?

"Joel, what happens… we're done?" Ellie asked. "I reckon we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." he replied. Ellie and I glance at each other, not satisfied with that answer.

Something then catches our eye. We saunter over to it and see that it was an engraving of a deer that had antlers atop its head. It was the symbol of the most traumatizing moment in our lives.

The very symbol of despair. The more we looked at it, the heavier that winter wind engulfed us. We were frozen in place; the snow gathering around our ankles as our minds were plunged back to that frozen hell.

Ellie and I tried to do everything we could to keep these memories at bay, but they had broken their way through the surface. Joel wasn't with us, only Ellie and I remained.

That deer lay dead in it's own blood; arrows sticking out of its neck. David placed his hands on ours, making us shudder. We then were standing out in a white, blinding blizzard and we couldn't find a way out.

We couldn't shut our eyes, they were forced to look at the engraving. Then, smoke started to suffocate us as we heard the vindictive taunts of David. I feel Ellie giving me a kiss that could've been our very last interaction of love. I then feel the weight of my cracked head.

We hear a distant voice calling our names but it was too low. We were alone.


	37. Chapter 37 Bus Deport

"Ellie! Enid!" Joel calls for us. We break out of our trance and look at him. It was warm again when he called us.

"Did you two hear me?" he asked. We shake our heads in response. "Look. Hospital. This is where we get off. C'mon kiddos." Joel says. We walk over to him in silence.

That same feeling of sadness and fear still overwhelmed Ellie and I. We start walking down the highway. I had let go of Ellie's hand but we still walked side-by-side.

"You guys feel that breeze? I tell you guys, on a day like this I sit on my porch and pick away at my six string." Joel tells us cooly. Ellie and I remain silent and walk ahead of him a bit. "Once we're done with this whole thing, I'll teach you two how to play guitar. I reckon you two would like that." Joel said lightly.

Ellie and I still didn't say anything in response. "Ellie, Enid, I'm talking to you two." he said. We look up at him for a minute. "Hmm? Oh, yeah sure that sounds great." Ellie distantly says. "Yeah… sounds fun." I add, adjusting my messenger bag.

Neither of us were in the mood to talk. Ellie had to be feeling much more depressed about the end of this journey more than me.

We keep walking down the highway until Ellie sees a faded picture of an airplane on the side of a vine covered bus. She had told me that she had a dream that was relevant to this picture and she told me how odd it was.

Joel joined us after searching through an RV. "I had a dream about flying the other night." Ellie says, looking at the plane then to Joel. "Oh yeah?" he said. Ellie nodded in response.

"Go on, tell me about it." Joel said. She had dreamt of being on a plane. However, the plane was going down and because there wasn't any pilot, she tried to get it under control but it didn't work. Before it crashes, she wakes up.

"We never been on a plane. Do you guys find it weird?" Ellie asks, looking at us. "Yeah, you told me it's weird." I reply, my hand on my messenger bag strap. "Yeah, dreams are weird." Joel said, walking ahead.

Ellie had a look of sadness on her face; there was something else on her mind. I glance down at my feet with a frown on my face. I couldn't help but feel the same as her.

We walked down a main street where another QZ sign was sitting there. "Look at that. Another city, another abandoned quarantine zone." Joel says, climbing on top of a bus. Ellie followed him in silence.

He finds where the hospital is and jumps down from the bus so we were in the next area. We follow Joel into a train station. "Maybe we can cut through here, huh?" Joel said, more enthused about almost being there than Ellie and I.

Ellie and I saunter down the leaf covered stairs and we sit down on a bench. I kept my back turned towards them so that I faced the stairs. I leaned on my knees and kept my arms crossed; my eyes were dropped to the floor.

"Everything okay, guys?" Joel asked, coming over to us. I glance back at him for a moment to see him standing by us. "Yeah. We're fine." Ellie says. "You guys seem extra quiet today." Joel mentions. "Oh. Sorry about that." I say quietly, looking away from him.

I was sad that this mission was almost over; Ellie was sad about it also. While Joel was searching for supplies, I leaned back against Ellie's back. She took a hold of my hand and our fingers intertwined.

Goddammit, I love her so much… What did I do to deserve her? It'd be the same with Joel. If I lost any of them, I'd lose my mind.

Before we got too into our thoughts, Joel called our names. We both look at him. "The ladder, c'mon." he says, locking his fingers together.

We both stand up and walk our way towards him. He hoisted both of us up to the next level. Ellie begins to move the ladder that was laying at the edge.

I glanced behind me for a moment and something catched my eyes. "Oh my god." I gasp, running to the window. "What i- holy shit." Ellie gasped, dropping the ladder. The two of us run to the window. There was something there.


	38. Chapter 38 Giraffes

We ran to the window and my eyes lit up at what we were seeing. Joel climbed up the ladder to join us. "You gotta see this!" Ellie exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the window.

"What is it?" Joel asks, looking at the window. We follow the shadow that swam across the dirty window. "It went that way." I say, pointing to the left. We ran through a transparent walkway that led to another building.

"C'mon, hurry up!" Ellie called to Joel. We came to a building that had a large chunk of the wall missing. Standing there, was a giraffe eating leaves off the wall. A wide smile made its way onto our faces the second our eyes met the giraffe.

Joel comes in seconds after. "You see this?" Ellie softly asked. Looking at it made me feel like everything was alright with the world again. It was as if all the shit that we've been through didn't exist anymore.

Joel slowly walks to it. "Joel, don't scare it." I whisper. "I won't. I won't." he said softly, approaching the animal. He pets its neck gently. "What're you doing?" Ellie softly asked.

"It's alright. C'mere." Joel said, waving us over. We walk over and Ellie gently pets it on its cheek. "Hey there." she softly says. "Hi, big guy." I say soothingly, gently petting it.

"So fucking cool." Ellie said with a smile. "Hell yeah…" I say, feeling happy again. The giraffe looks at us for a second before walking away.

Ellie looks around before saying, "Aw, where's it going? C'mon, guys." "Right behind you." I say with a chuckle. I jog behind her as we follow where the giraffe was going.

"Hurry up! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Ellie called, running up the stairs. Ellie opens a door that leads to a rooftop. There were at least eight of them along with a perfect view of Salt Lake City.

"Wow… Look at those things. Isn't it amazing, Enid?" Ellie asked me, leaning on the ledge of the roof. "Fuck yeah it is…" I say, leaning on the wall also with my arms crossed. Joel was next to Ellie.

"So… is this everything you two hoped for?" Joel asked us. That question made Ellie and I smile with a soft laugh. The way the view looked, it made us feel at peace for the first time in a long time.

I hadn't felt like this in such a long time and neither has Ellie. It was grand. "It's got its ups and downs but…" Ellie started. "You cannot deny the view though." I finish, giving a sigh of relief. "Damn right." Joel said softly.

Ellie chuckled at my statement softly. I remember her saying that back in Boston before we reached the capitol building. I look at the amazing view in front of us, just soaking it all in.

It was fucking beautiful. From the mountains that enclosed the city, the giraffes walking through a ballpark, and the cool breeze gently blowing by us. I loved every second of it. Ellie placed her hand atop of mine, getting me to smile wider. I couldn't have experienced a better view than this with the two people that I've come to love.

After a few more minutes of sight seeing, Ellie and I stop watching the giraffes and we join Joel at a door. "We don't have to do this. Both of you know that right?" Joel tells us. Ellie and I shake our heads in disbelief.

"What else did you have in mind?" I ask, my voice filled with disbelief. We were so close and now he wants to change his mind? "We can go back to Tommy's. Just… be done with this whole damn thing." he tells us, looking at us with a softened gaze.

"After everything we've been through. Everything that Enid and I had done." Ellie said, looking down with a sigh, "It can't be for nothing." She then goes through the door. Without a word, I follow her through the door and a flight of stairs.

There wasn't any point of going back. We've come this far. Despite my feelings about finishing it, we had no choice but to keep going.

I follow Ellie down two flights of stairs. "Look. Enid and I know you mean well but there's no halfway with this." Ellie says. I glance back at him to see him a few steps behind us.

"So, when all this blows over, we'll go wherever you want to go, okay?" I tell him, my voice distant. "Well, I'm not leaving without you two. Let's go wrap this up." Joel said. Honestly, it warmed my heart to hear him say that. He had really changed since that winter.

We walked through a building that had gates that we would have to crouch through in order to reach the next exit. Joel comes out after us and jogs ahead of us. We were in a zone where medic tents were.

"Well, this place takes me back." Joel said. "How so?" Ellie asked curiously. "It was after everything went down. I had ended up in a triage just like this. Everywhere you turned just… families torn apart. The whole damn world just turned upside down in a blink." Joel explained, his voice forlorn.

I felt my heart shatter. The possibility of never seeing your family again is just something that I can't ever imagine going through. Ellie had already been taken away from me; I had believed that I'd never see her again. But fate had brought us together.

"Is that after Sarah died?" I ask, hoping that I didn't cross a long. "Yeah it was." he replied sadly. I couldn't help but feel bad for him. Tears welled up in my eyes but I quickly wiped them away.

"We… can't imagine losing someone you love like that. Losing everything you know. I'm sorry, Joel." Ellie said with empathy. "I'm sorry too." I say sadly. "It's okay, you two." he says, looking for supplies.

Something then hit me. Ellie had the picture of Joel and Sarah that Maria had shown us back in Tommy's dam. She had taken it while we were still there.

I nudge her and she looks at me. I make a couple of eye gestures to show that she should give it to Joel. She nodded and pulled out the picture.

We went to a bus and Ellie called him over. He turns to look at us. "Here. Maria showed us this but I uh… I stole it. We hope you don't mind." Ellie says, pulling out the picture.

He takes the picture and looks at it. He smiles at this before putting it in his backpack. "No matter how hard you try, I guess you can't escape your past. Thank you two." he said, appreciated that we gave him that picture. Now he has a way to look back at his daughter without missing her.

We go through the bus and through a window. We started to walk down a tunnel that was below ground. "This time's gonna be different. We just know it." I say with optimism. Ellie is just as optimistic as me.


	39. Chapter 39 Fireflies

The three of us went under a bridge and climbed over a bus so we'd be on the other side of it to get inside of the tunnel. Instantly, we hear infected in this tunnel. We crouch in unison.

We moved as stealthily as we could, passing a single bloater and a few clickers. "Oh my god… there's so many of them." Ellie whispered. "What do we do Joel?" I ask, my voice low.

We went into a smaller room off to the side where there was more loot. "Just stay quiet." Joel shushed, reloading his gun. Joel turned on his flashlight and we were startled by 3 runners. Ellie grabbed my hand while Joel strangled them one by one.

We walk out of the room quietly and crouch behind a small wall. More infected was just ahead. Joel took his bow and arrow and shot down 3 unsuspecting runners. He then throws his nail bombs and molotovs at them.

After they died, we walked to a truck that had a crate on top of it. "Ellie, there's a crate up there." I say, pointing up. "Alright. I got it." Ellie whispered. Joel locked his fingers together and boosted her up.

"Look out below!" she calls pushing the crate down to Joel and I. He went first and I went after him. He jumped down and took the lead again. "We're good. Don't think they can reach us now." Joel said, walking towards a firetruck.

There was deep water on our right therefore, Joel reminds Ellie and I to watch our steps. Seeing the water got Ellie and I to glance at each other for a second. That gave us an idea.

"Hey, you know what you can do once we're done?" I say, smiling. "What's that?" Joel wondered. "You can teach Enid and I how to swim." Ellie said, roping in the conversation. Joel agreed to do it, much to our delight.

Joel goes underwater so he could make it to the other side. Ellie and I had to wait for him. "I'm on the other side." Joel informed us. "Cool. Drop that ladder for us." Ellie replied.

I put my hands on my hips while we waited. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. The closer we were getting to the Fireflies, the more nervous I was feeling.

Joel makes it to the top of the truck that had broken concrete laying on it. He drops the ladder down to Ellie and I. We climb up the ladder.

"Okay. Just stick to the edge. It's shallow over there." Joel said. I jump in the water and squeal from how cold she was. "Oh! It's freezing!" Ellie cried.

We walk through the cold water and up to another gate. Joel tries to push the gate open but it wouldn't budge. "Here. I'll get it." I offer.

Joel locked his fingers together and boosted me over the edge. "Please be careful." Ellie tells me. "I know." I reply. When I landed on the other side, a clicker suddenly sprung up from the ground.

"Look out!" Joel cries. "Enid!" Ellie cried, holding her gun up. The clicker jumped on me and tried to bite my neck. I fought against the fucker as they shot at it.

The clicker was shot down with a few bullets, causing me to stumble back. "You okay?" Joel asked. I walk to the gate and pull out a pipe from the door. "Y-Yeah. It just surprised me." I say, opening the door.

Ellie instantly hugged me and I felt her body shaking from anxiety. I hug her back for a few seconds. We jogged into another corridor that had a fallen vent blocking our way. We had to go under it.

The next room had a massive hole in the ceiling; the hospital was in full view. "Hey, there it is." Ellie pointed out. "We're almost there." I say.

"You two stay put." Joel says, jumping in some water. "We're not going anywhere." Ellie says. After he went under, I turned to Ellie with my hands on my hips.

"Can you believe we're almost there?" I ask, still hearing my heart beating in my ears. "I can. What do you think's gonna happen once we get there?" she asks me. I shrug my shoulders and shuffle my feet.

"Don't know. Maybe draw some blood or something." I reply, somewhat unsure. "I hope you're right." Ellie said. Honestly, I don't know if that's what they were gonna do. But I hope my theory is true.

We then saw Joel on a higher level platform and walked to another one of those pallets that was sitting by the railing. "You made it!" Ellie says, watching as he pushes the raft over. "Alright! Get us across." I say, walking forward.

Joel jumped over the railing and back into the water. After resurfacing, he grabbed the pallet and pushed it over to us. "Alright. Get on." Joel said. Ellie gets on first.

"Be careful." Ellie said as Joel pushes her to another ledge. Once she's over there, he comes back over to get me. I jump on it and pray that he didn't drop me in the water.

Once we make it over, I climb up on the ledge with Ellie. There was a ladder that was pulled up. Ellie and I jog up some stairs in order to reach it.

Ellie releases a couple of latches and the ladder drops. Joel starts to climb it but there was a loud crash from below. "What happened?" Ellie asked, looking down. "Damn thing broke off the wall." Joel said, holding the broken ladder.

"Great. Now what?" I ask. "I'll figure something out." Joel replied. He took it to the other wall and climbed it to get on top of that same platform. He brought it over to the ledge he brought Ellie and I and lays it across the gap.

"Oh, I see. Good idea." Ellie said with a nod. He walks across it and catches up with us. We walk down another catwalk and stop when we see raging water in front of us.

"Oh boy." Ellie says nervously. "Joel?" I say, not sure about how to get across the water. "Let me go ahead and you two follow my lead." Joel says. "Okay, right behind you." Ellie replied.

The water was too fast for us to go in. Joel walks across an air duct carefully and onto a truck. Ellie and I follow him carefully so we wouldn't fall in the rapid water.

He jumped onto another air duct and turned to Ellie and I. "Okay. C'mon jump." he tells us. "You're gonna catch us?" Ellie asked unbelievably.

"I got you two." he assures us. Ellie jumped over the gap and onto the air duct. I jump after her.

"See? You two didn't even need me." Joel said. "Let's get the hell off this thing." Ellie says, jogging ahead. "Yeah, let's go." I agree, following her. We jump on a tipped over bus.

When Ellie and I made it halfway, Joel jumped down on the bus. The whole bus shakes when he lands on it. I almost lose my balance but Ellie catches me.

"Oh shit." she said. "Ellie, Enid run!" Joel yelled. Ellie jumps on a balcony and reaches down to bring Joel and I up.

I tried to grab Ellie's hand but the bus was starting to give way. "Joel! Enid, c'mon!" she cried. When our fingers made contact, I fell through the window and into the water.

Joel had fallen through the windows too, the rapids pushing him backwards. I tried to catch one of the poles but my hands were too slick. "Enid!" Joel yelled, grabbing onto me. The water was so strong that we were unable to move forward.

About a few seconds later, I hear someone jump on the door above us. Looking up, I see that it's Ellie. "I made it! I fucking made it!" Ellie shouted, starting to open the door.

Joel reached up and tried to open it too. "Open you piece of shit!" Ellie yelled, using her foot to open the door. The door hit Joel on the head, knocking us underwater for a minute. "Ellie!" I yell, reaching out for her.

"Here we go!" she yelled, reaching for Joel and I. Then, the bus made a loud screeching sound and it hit something, making Ellie fall. "Oh shit! Shit! Joel! Enid!" she shouted, hanging onto the door with dear life.

"Ellie! Ellie, gimme your hand!" Joel shouts over the loud groaning. "Ellie, hurry before-" I start but the bus falls underwater with a loud crash. I started to freak out because I couldn't breathe.

I see Ellie floating away from the bus after it crashed. Joel and I squeeze through the bus door and we are pushed forward by the current. I struggle to hold onto Joel's backpack.

We see Ellie floating lifelessly in the water, making my heart spike up in fear. Joel swims forward, pulling me forward, and grabs Ellie.

We resurface and instantly gasp loudly for air. I let Joel go and start to cough water up while I was on all fours. Joel pulls Ellie out of the water so that she is on land.

When I catch my breath, I look over at Ellie. Fear rushed through me and I crawled to her. "Ellie?! Ellie, wake up!" I cry, grabbing her shoulders.

I shook her a few times but she didn't move. Joel puts his ear to her air way. I felt sick when I learned that she wasn't breathing.

Joel started to give her CPR. "C'mon…" he says, still giving her CPR. Tears start to form in my eyes in horrific fear. He listens again but she still isn't breathing.

"Hands in the air!" someone shouts. My eyes shot up to the sound of the voice. There was someone coming at us with a gun aimed at us. "Help us! She-She's not breathing!" I beg, wanting Ellie to be alive.

"Hands in the fucking air!" the same man shouts, not listening to us. "C'mon, Ellie!" Joel begged. Then, I feel myself getting hit in the head with the butt of the man's gun, knocking me clean out.


	40. Chapter 40 Truth

When I woke up, I saw that I was in a hospital bed. My head was pounding from the blow to my head from those soldiers. "You're awake." a voice made me look to my right. It was none other than Marlene.

She looked down at me with a slight grin. "Marlene? What're you doing here?" I ask, shakily sitting up. "Making sure you're alright. I told them not to harm you." Marlene replied. "Yeah… that blow on the head didn't help." I reply, rubbing my head.

Not a second after, Joel and Ellie suddenly swam through my head. "Wait, Marlene, where's Joel and Ellie? Where are they?" I ask, looking up at her. "Don't worry. Joel's still knocked out." she told me.

"Take me to him! I want to see him!" I shout, wanting to see Joel. She waited a minute before agreeing. "Okay. Follow me. He's down the hall." she tells me.

I follow her down the hospital corridor with one of those Fireflies walking behind me with a gun. That made me a bit uncomfortable but I kept it subtle. Marlene still hasn't answered my question about Ellie. Was she okay? Where were they keeping her?

We make it to the room Joel was in and I see him lying on a hospital bed, still knocked out. Marlene sat down on a chair next to the bed. I quickly ran to him.

When he wakes up about a minute later, he turns his head to look at Marlene and I. "Joel… thank god." I say, sighing with relief. "Welcome to the Fireflies." Marlene said. "Sorry about the…" she said, pointing to where we got hit in the head. "They didn't know who you two were."

"And Ellie?" Joel asked. "Is she okay, Marlene?" I ask, feeling panicked. "She's alright. They brought her back." Marlene assured. I sigh and sit down on the bed.

"You three came all this way. How'd you do it?" Marlene asked. "It was us, Marlene. We fought like hell to get here." I answer, looking down. "Maybe it was meant to be…" Joel adds, pushing himself up.

Marlene gets up from the chair and walks away from us. "I lost most of my crew crossing the country." she tells us, "I pretty much lost everything." She turns to face Joel and I. "And then you two show up and somehow we find you both just in time to save her." she said, laughing softly, "Maybe it was meant to be."

Joel starts to get up from the bed. "Marlene, take us to Ellie, please." I beg, wanting to see her. "You don't have to worry about her anymore. We'll take care of-" Marlene started, but Joel cut her off.

"Enid and I worry. Just… let us see her. Please." Joel said. Marlene then shakes her head and crosses her arms across her chest. "You two can't. She's being prepped for surgery." Marlene said.

Joel squinted his eyes and walked towards her. I too stand up, feeling confused. "The hell you mean, surgery?" Joel asked. Marlene put her hand out to hold us back.

"The doctors tell me the cordyceps, the growth inside her, has somehow mutated." she explained, "It's why she's immune. Once they remove it, they'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine. A vaccine." She then smiled at that. I feel a guard standing behind us.

"But it grows all over the brain." Joel says, his voice scratchy. Marlene stares at us for a while. "It does." she says. I felt paralyzed, I couldn't breathe.

I look at her, fear and anger in my eyes. They were going to fucking kill Ellie to get the vaccine. "Marlene, y-you gotta find someone else. There's gotta be!" I cry, practically begging. "There is no one else, Enid." she sternly answers.

"Listen, you're gonna show us where-" Joel says, walking towards her, only to get knocked down to his knees. I kneel down next to Joel in response. "Stop." Marlene says, walking to her guard.

"I get it. But whatever it is you two think you're going through right now, is nothing compared to what I've been through." Marlene tells us, looking down at us. "Enid, you know that I knew you and Ellie since you were both born. I had promised that I'd look after you two." she says, looking at us.

"Why are you letting this happen, Marlene?! You can't take her away from me a second time!" I cry. "Because it's not about you, Joel, or even her. There's no other choice here!" she says, glaring down at us.

Joel scoffed at her in disbelief and sat down against the chair. "Yeah… you keep telling yourself that bullshit." he scoffed, looking up at Marlene. Marlene waited a minute before speaking to her guard, "March them out of here. If they try anything, shoot them."

My heart jumped to my throat when she said this. I glance down at the ground, feeling something slowly start to snap inside of me. They're not taking Ellie away from me again, not this time. "Get up. Both of you." the soldier says, aiming his gun at us. We didn't budge.

"I said get up." he says. Joel and I comply and push ourselves to our feet. "Go on. Move it." the soldier said, walking behind us. Joel and I slowed down when we reached the doorway.

"I said move." the soldier ordered, pushing both of us forward. I glare back at him for a minute. "Gimme an excuse." he asked.

Joel looked back over his shoulder at the guy. "Which way?" Joel questioned. He pointed to the right with his gun. Joel and I walk in that direction. But we then see our bags sitting on a counter.

Joel and I glanced at each other; our plan had been put out. We stop walking, pissing the fucker off. "What the fuck you two doing? Keep walking." the soldier says. We don't move. "I said keep walking!" the soldier said, before I take my knife and stab him in the leg.

He yelled out in pain which distracted him long enough for Joel to grab him. He twisted the guy's arm behind his head and pinned him up against the wall. He managed to grab the soldier's gun.

"Where's the operating room, motherfucker?" I ask, holding my knife to his throat. I was determined to get the fucking answer out of him. He doesn't answer us. "We ain't got time for this." Joel said, shooting the soldier below the belt. He gasped for air.

"Where?!" Joel shouted. Still no answer. "Where!?" Joel shouted, shooting him again. "Top floor… the far end." he wheezed. I pull my knife away from his throat and put it up in my back pocket.

Joel lets him slide down the wall to his knees. He then shoots him in the head and he tucks the gun in his pocket. "Gunshots! Search the floor!" someone shouted in the distance. "Oh shit." Joel whispered, putting his backpack on. He tossed me my messenger bag.

"You got your gun?" he asked me. "Yeah." I answer, taking it out and reloading it.


	41. Chapter 41 Saving Ellie

Joel and I quickly run and hide behind a wall. '_Time to give them hell.' _I thought to myself, ready to get Ellie back. I don't give a shit about why we were here anymore. I don't give a shit about saving humanity anymore. All I wanted was to save Ellie; she is what mattered to us now.

Joel and I hear at least three guys running down the hallway. Joel threw two nail bombs in their direction and they instantly blew up. We then hop through a window to the next room. "Stay low." Joel whispered to me. "Okay." I reply, staying low so the Fireflies wouldn't see us.

We exit the room as a guy walks by and hides behind an air duct. Joel took out his bow and arrow and shot the guy in the head. Joel retrieved the arrow and picked up an assault rifle.

We ran down a hall and hid behind some tables. "Joel, there's more up there." I whisper to him, seeing at least four more of them ahead. Joel throws a molotov and it hits the closest guy, making him scream.

Joel strangled one last guy before we ran down a hallway that read, 'West Wing." It was a long corridor and we ran behind a reception desk as 3 more soldiers ran by us. When they were gone, the two of us went through a set of double doors.

A soldier bursted through a door, spotting us. Joel didn't hesitate to shoot him in the head with his shotgun, blowing his head to smithereens. "C'mon." Joel urged, grabbing me by the arm. I follow him through those doors. "Oh shit." he says in a panic.

He then grabbed a chair and put it between the bars so the door wouldn't open. There was banging on the door. We ran up four flights of stairs so that we were on the next floor.

We walked into an office and Joel picked up a recorder that was sitting on a table. We hear Marlene's voice.

"_It's 5:30 pm on… April 28th. I just finished speaking… more like yelling at our head surgeon. Apparently there's no way to extract the parasite without eliminating the host. Fancy way of saying we gotta kill the fucking kid. Now they're asking me for my go ahead. The tests just keep getting harder and harder, don't they? I'm so tired… I'm exhausted. I just want this to end… so be it." _

Hearing that they were going to outright kill Ellie to get the cure made my blood boil. Marlene's not taking Ellie away from me a second time. It's not fucking happening.

Joel put the recorder away and we exited the room we were in, entering a long hallway. I then see some movement across the building. "Joel? Is that it?" I ask him, walking up to the glass. "Yeah… it is. We're coming Ellie." he answers me. walking away from the window.

The next corridor we walked to was filled with soldiers. It was going to be a shootout here. Joel and I shoot every single one of those fuckers down with the rest of our ammo. I had shot down at least five guys while Joel took care of the rest.

We ran to another set of double doors and shut it behind us. "There. Help me with this." Joel said, starting to push a basket filled with junk. I grab onto it and push it against the door. We start to run down the hallway, and make it into another room. Nothing was in it but a recorder.

It was Marlene again, "_Hey Anna and Amy. It's been a while since we spoke. I uh… I just gave the go ahead to proceed with the surgery. I really doubt I had much of a choice, asking me was more of a formality. I need you to know that I've kept my promise to you both all these years. Despite everything that I was in charge of. I looked after those two girls. I would've done anything for them. I saw how close they were. It hurt me to separate them just as much as it hurt them. But now… here's a chance to save all of us. This is what we're after. What you were after, Anna. They asked me to kill the smuggler and Enid. I'm not about to kill your daughter, Amy and the one man that might understand the weight of this choice. Maybe they can forgive me. Oh, I miss you, Anna and Amy. Anna, your daughter will be with you soon."_

I grit my teeth in anger. She was really going to kill Ellie just to save humanity that's already fucked. '_No. No, no, no!'_ I think to myself, feeling more desperate now. Joel and I run down the rest of the corridor and open a door.

We see shadows through the mesh curtains. This was definitely the room. Joel opens the door and we see an unconscious Ellie, laying on the table with a mask over her face. "Sweet Jesus." he mumbled.

"Doctor?" a nurse asked. I walk in and draw my knife, giving the surgeons a crazed yet angered look. "What're you two doing here?" he asked, starting to back up. Joel started to walk towards the head surgeon.

"I won't let you two take her. This is our future. Think of all the lives we'll save." he says, holding up a scalpel. Joel takes it from him and stabs the surgeon in the neck before throwing him onto some medical machinery.

"No! You fucking animals!" the nurse shouted. I ran to her and savagely stabbed the nurse in her throat. "_Shut the fuck up." _I say threateningly before pulling my knife out of her neck.

"Oh Jesus. Oh god. Ah, just take the girl and leave, okay?" the other doctor says. Joel had shot the doctor in the head to make him shut up. I walk to Ellie and instantly tear up.

Joel unhooked her from the tubes that they put into her. "C'mon, baby girl." he says, picking her up bridal style. "It's okay now, Ellie. We got you." I say softly. Then, I see some flashlights in the hallway.

"Joel, they're coming!" I say. Joel and I burst through another door. The Fireflies started to swarm around us as we ran through the hospital. "Get back!" Joel shouted.

"They're taking her towards pediatrics. Get up there. Now!" a soldier shouts. We keep running with Ellie, not slowing down. I felt scared shitless that we wouldn't make it out of here with Ellie. We had to…

"We're getting you outta here, girl." Joel mumbled. "C'mon Ellie… please." I beg, tears starting to run down my face. We turn into a locker room to avoid the soldiers. "This is your last chance! Drop her now!" a soldier warned.

There was an elevator ahead; our ticket out of here. "I got them in my sights!" a soldier said. Joel and I run into the elevator as we're being shot at. "Stop! Hey!" the soldiers shout. Joel pressed the bottom floor button and the doors shut before the soldiers could get to us.

I stumble against the back of the elevator, completely out of breath. My eyes look over at Ellie, who was completely limp in Joel's arms. I felt relief that we got her out of there in one piece.

Then, the doors open to a parking garage. Joel pressed a red button to keep the elevator there. When we step out, Marlene is already down here. She aims her gun at us. I quickly aim my gun at her instinctively.

"You two can't save her." she said with a grimace. Joel and I stare at her in disbelief. "Even if you get her out of here, then what? How long before her and Enid are torn to pieces by a pack of clickers? That is if they haven't been raped or murdered first?" Marlene says, pissing Joel and I off even more.

Did she say that Joel would rape and murder us? I couldn't believe my ears. "It's not for you to decide." Joel sneered at her. "It's what she'd want and you two know it." Marlene spat. I glare at her with pure hatred in my eyes.

"Look. You can still do the right thing here. She won't feel anything." Marlene said, raising her hands up slowly as if to surrender.

I started to slowly lower my gun and gazed down at the floor. The memories started to flood my mind. I saw when Ellie and I had reunited, our thievery from Bill, everything in Pittsburgh. All the laughs we shared swam through my mind. I even saw the kisses that we had shared…

Breathing heavily, I made my decision. Raising my gun, I pull the trigger and shoot Marlene in her stomach. Joel and I had stopped breathing for a second. "C'mon." Joel said, making his way towards a car. I follow him quickly.

He put Ellie in the backseat, bending them at the knee. "Enid, stay with Ellie." Joel tells me before shutting the door. I sit in the passenger seat.

I couldn't hear what was going on but I did hear a single gunshot. I shut my eyes and lean back with a sigh. Marlene was dead…


	42. Chapter 42 Lie

Joel was driving the car down a highway and we sat in silence. I leaned back against the seat with my eyes shut; just thinking about all of what we went through. I had to let it all soak in.

Then, I hear Ellie starting to stir in the backseat, getting me to look back at her. "Ellie?" I say, feeling relieved that she's finally awake. She looks at what she's wearing, which was a hospital gown, then at the ceiling.

"What the hell am I wearing?" she asked. "Just take it easy… drugs are still wearing off." Joel assures her. She wiped her eyes and looked at us.

"What happened?" she asked. I felt a knot in my throat. "Well… we had found the Fireflies." I answer, taking a deep breath. "Turns out, there's a whole lot more like you, Ellie. People who're immune. There's dozens actually. Ain't done a damn bit of good neither." Joel says, getting us to look at him.

"They actually st-" he stops mid sentence. I close my eyes and shake my head, remembering that I had shot Marlene. I swallow the lump that was forming in my throat. "They stopped looking for a cure." Joel finished. I knew that he was lying. And it killed me that I'd have to keep it a secret from Ellie.

I saw the look of disappointment on Ellie's face. Just seeing her reaction of how our entire journey basically meant nothing hurt my heart. "I'm taking us home." Joel whispered to us. She then turns to her side with her back facing us. "We're sorry." Joel says quietly for both of us.

We continued to drive for another five hours or so. We had to stop though so Ellie could change into regular close. She wore a grey shirt, a red flannel, and green cargo pants. Afterwards, I sit in the backseat with her.

I sat as close to her as I could, taking her hand into mine. Her fingers recoiled with mine. I let my head rest on her shoulder while her cheek rested on my head.

Not long after, the car ended up breaking down. Joel was trying to get it fixed. Ellie was sitting in the front seat, observing the nasty, bumpy scar that covered her bite mark.

While Joel was trying to fix the car, I decided that I needed to talk to Ellie for a minute. "Hey, Ellie?" I say quietly. She looked away from her scar. "Mmm?" she mumbled, looking up at me.

"Can we… talk a minute?" I asked, feeling nervous. "Okay." she replied, covering her bite mark.

She stood up from the driver's seat and shut the door behind her. We walk a few feet away from Joel. "Ellie, I-" I start but Ellie cuts me off. "Enid, tell me. Tell me what happened at the Fireflies." Ellie asked, her voice more serious.

I wait a minute, trying to put the right words together. I didn't want to lie to her like Joel did. "They… they did try to find a cure. They tried it with others. But as Joel said… it didn't mean anything. I'm sorry that you had to hear this…" I say, lying so hard that my stomach was twisting inside of me.

"Why didn't Joel let them use me as the cure?" she asked. I rub my arm, my face beat read. "I… I don't know, Ellie." I tell her. She sighed and turned her back towards me. "Ellie… please don't be pissed with me." I say, walking to her.

"I'm not pissed… I'm just disappointed. We traveled all this way just to find out that my immunity meant nothing. What does that say?" Ellie said, her arms crossed. I couldn't answer that. What could I say?

Ellie was looking forward to finding the Fireflies. I knew that she had so many questions for them to ask. But we couldn't go back there.

I felt myself tear up, a sob forcing its way from my throat. She saw this and instantly pulled me into a hug. I instantly hug her back, my fingers gripping onto her clothes and my face buried in her right shoulder.

I cry softly on her shoulder and just let her hold me. "I love you, Ellie…" I whisper to her, finally able to get those three words out. She froze for a minute before saying, "I love you too, Enid. I always have." My heart leapt when I heard those words reciprocated back to me.

We pulled back and we looked at each other in the eyes for a minute. I couldn't help but lean in to kiss her. She pressed her lips against mine for about 5 seconds. "We should get back to Joel." she said, looking over my shoulder. I nod and walk back with her, our hands intertwined.

"Well." Joel says, closing the hood of the car. "Looks like we're walking." he says, rubbing his hands together. He jogged to a barbed wire fence. "Should be a straight shot through here." he says, holding the wires of the fence wide enough for Ellie and I to fit through.

"It's actually kinda pretty, ain't it?" Joel asked. "Yeah." Ellie and I say. Ellie ducked under the wire first and held it open for Joel and I. I duck under the fence before Joel. He grunted as he went under.

"Oh… feelin' my age now." he said, laughing softly. Ellie and I follow him through the woods. The sun illuminated through the trees. There were lavender flowers blooming, and the trees were towering over us proudly.

"Don't think I ever told you guys this but Sarah and I used to take hikes like this." Joel said, "I think ah… I think you three would've been good friends. Think you two would've really liked her. I know she would've like you two." "We bet we would've." Ellie answered for the both of us.

We hop over a fallen tree then climb up a hill. We stood on top of the hill and saw Tommy's plant below us. "Whoa. Look down there." Joel said, "Just a little bit further now."

Joel jumped on a tree stump, and climbed onto a rock face, knocking the tree over. He bent down to help Ellie and I up. "Here. I got you two." he says, pulling us both up onto the ledge.

"Alright, let's go." Joel said, starting to walk ahead. "Hey, wait." Ellie says, stopping him. I watch as she plays with her ring finger and pinky. He turned to look at her.

She sighed and said, "Back in Boston- back when I was bitten. I wasn't alone. My friend Riley was there. She got bit too." My eyes widened when she said this. I didn't know that her other friend had been bitten.

"We didn't know what to do." she continued, looking to the ground, "So… she says, 'let's just wait it out. We can be all poetic and just lose our minds together.' I'm still waiting on my turn." I jumped forward at this. "Ellie-" I start, not wanting her to say that.

"She was the first to die. Then it was Tess. And then Sam. I don't want you to be next, Enid." Ellie says, glancing at me. "None of that is on either one of you." Joel said. "No, you don't understand." Ellie says, shaking her head.

"I struggled for a long time with survivin'. And you two- no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for." Joel says, getting us to scoff, "Look, I know it's not what you two want to hear, but it's-"

"Swear to me." Ellie cuts him off, getting Joel and I to look at her in confusion. "Both of you swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true." she said. I hesitated for a minute and sighed in defeat. "I swear." I say. "So do I." Joel adds.

Ellie looked down at the ground, her eyes filled with hurt. She didn't know whether or not to believe in that lie. I didn't want to believe it myself. She looks up and says…

"Okay." My heart ripped in two.

* * *

**Holy shit, it's finally done! After a year and four months, it's finally done! I want to thank everyone who stuck with me on this story. I will plan on doing a sequel to this story. With my other stories still needing to be completed, it will be on hold. I have enjoyed working on this story and has been my second biggest project right next to my Wolf's Rain: Seekers of Paradise story. I'm also playing the sequel to this game and will plan on writing a fanfic for that game too. For now, thank you to everyone who read this story. I appreciate it very much. **


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